Looking for advice about Java

[BigDaddyCool]

Newbie to the site and I'm in need of some guideance.

Over the past few weeks I have twice been infected with rouge malware after years of not being infected. I had first been infected with "XP Internet Security 2011" which I was able to dispatch with Spybot. A couple of days ago I was infected with "MS Removal Tool". This was a little more difficult as I had to use a combination of both Spybot and Malwarebytes to kill it. Now my system appears clean after running another scan of my system.

I read in a different thread that one of the ways that viruses are able to gain a foothold is if there is a security hole in Java, and that it is important to not only keep Java updated, but to get rid of previous versions as they can be exploited. I updated Java already (it is up to update 25 btw) and I deleted previous updates from my system. Now I'm trying to figure out what else to delete without wrecking Java.

When I open up "Add and Remove Programs" this is what I see after deleting the previous updates:



When I go into the Java Control Panel I see this:





And when I look at the folder in Windows Explorer I get this:



So my question is...what now? Do I just delete the folders in Program Files/Java, or do I uncheck them in the control panel first and then delete them? Should I remove anything else in "Add or Remove Programs" or am I all right if I leave it be?

I would appreciate any guideance that anyone can give me on this.

BigDaddyCool.

[tashi]

Hello BigDaddyCool,

When I open up "Add and Remove Programs" this is what I see after deleting the previous updates:

In what manner did you delete the previous versions as apparently they are still showing in Add/Remove Programs?

You should be able to remove the old versions from there.

Best regards.

[BigDaddyCool]

So far all I've deleted were the old updates that were still showing up. They were listed as Java(TM) 6 Update 1, Java(TM) 6 Update 2, etc. So far that is all I have deleted are the old updates.

The way I deleted the old updates was that I went into "Add or Remove Programs" and highlighted each old update that was still showing up, and then hit the "Remove" button. I later checked the Java Control Panel to make sure that the version of Java is still Version 6 Update 25 (build 1.6.0_25-b06) and it still is.

What I need to know is: do I dare delete anything else and if so, what?

[tashi]

Hi BigDaddyCool,

So far all I've deleted were the old updates that were still showing up. They were listed as Java(TM) 6 Update 1, Java(TM) 6 Update 2, etc. So far that is all I have deleted are the old updates.

A little confusing as previously,

Originally Posted by BigDaddyCool
When I open up "Add and Remove Programs" this is what I see after deleting the previous updates:

Did you remove the old Java versions via ADD/REMOVE and they showed up again?

I later checked the Java Control Panel to make sure that the version of Java is still Version 6 Update 25 (build 1.6.0_25-b06) and it still is.

What I need to know is: do I dare delete anything else and if so, what?

I'm not sure what you mean by "do I dare delete anything else and if so, what?" You are trying to remove only outdated Java program versions right?

If the latest version was removed in error one can re-install it again.
http://forums.spybot.info/showpost.p...80&postcount=2

Hope that helps.

[lewisje]

"Java 2 Runtime Environment" is a very old version of Java (1.4); "J2SE Runtime Environment" is also an old version of Java (1.5). Also, you should ensure that the ancient MSJVM (equivalent to Java 1.1) is no longer on your system; if you still have a C:\WINDOWS\JAVA\ directory then you still have the MSJVM and should uninstall it using these instructions:http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...utorial97.html

[BigDaddyCool]

Originally posted by tashi
Did you remove the old Java versions via ADD/REMOVE and they showed up again?

No. I removed everything that was listed as a Java update only. Everything else I left - for now.

Originally posted by tashi
I'm not sure what you mean by "do I dare delete anything else and if so, what?" You are trying to remove only outdated Java program versions right?

Exactly. I am trying to figure out how to remove the outdated Java program versions. My question is how do I do that without effecting the current version that I have?

Originally posted by lewisje
"Java 2 Runtime Environment" is a very old version of Java (1.4); "J2SE Runtime Environment" is also an old version of Java (1.5). Also, you should ensure that the ancient MSJVM (equivalent to Java 1.1) is no longer on your system; if you still have a C:\WINDOWS\JAVA\ directory then you still have the MSJVM and should uninstall it using these instructions: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...utorial97.html

So can I assume by your post that I should be able to delete the "Java 2 Runtime Environment" and "J2 SE Runtime Environment" using "Add or Remove Programs" without effecting the current version of Java? I am then assuming that I should follow the instructions at the link to further delete previous versions and then go ahead and re-install Java. Have I got that right?

[Wakefield]

If he can delete all of the Java JRE's completely from the computer couldn't he then download the newest one from the website (Oracle or Sun?) and install it?
Is it practical to run without Java at all? (But with Javascript)
Firefox seems to have a function for looking for to get/update add ons such as Java runtime I think you must be logged on administrator account.

[tashi]

Hi there.

Instructions from Java.

http://www.java.com/en/download/faq/...erversions.xml

http://www.java.com/en/download/uninstall.jsp

http://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

Cheers.

[BigDaddyCool]

OK, went to Java.com and had them analyze what I had. I then removed the "Java 2 Runtime Environment" and the "J2SE Runtime Environment" and re-booted. I then went back to Java.com to do another analysis and they tell me that all old versions are gone and that I now have the updated version of Java (version 25) installed on my system.

Thanks for the help and advice everyone!

[tashi]

Good work.