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rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

Sun Microsystems has fixed five security bugs in Java that expose computers running Windows, Linux and Solaris to hacker attack.

The flaws are "highly critical," according to an advisory from Secunia posted Tuesday. Vulnerabilities that get that ranking--one notch below "extremely critical," the security monitoring company's most severe rating--typically open the door to a remote intruder and to full compromise of the system.

All the flaws affect the Java Runtime Environment, or JRE, in computers loaded with Microsoft Windows, Linux or Sun's own Solaris operating system. This is the software many computer owners have on their system to run Java applications. The bugs could allow an intruder to use a Java application to inappropriately read and write files, or to run code on a victim's computer, Sun said in three separate security advisories released late Monday.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5975496.html?tag=nl.e589

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bob g · Oct 20, 2005

Thanks for the heads up, RB. But I don't know if this is really something I need to do. Do I have Java runtime environment / virtual machine or whatever on my computer in the first place? If I do, I want the up-date. If I don't, I'm getting kind of clogged up with stuff on this old 98SE install anyway and don't want to add anything new.

Quandarified.

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

I'm almost sure you have Java, Bob, not sure what kind. Go to Control Panel, find the Java icon and click on it to open.

You can examine all the tabs, look under the Java tab to see what you have installed. Right now I have three version installed, you don't really need more than one but ever now and then an older program may need an older version to run.

The other half of that window has a view button for the Java Application Runtime. If you have more than one version only ONE should be checked to run. Having two running may cause a conflict. As you can see there is an update tab where you can have it check for an update. I have W2K so your info may look a bit different. If you update DON'T delete the version you have. Should you encounter problems you can uninstall the newest version and go back to the old one