14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft advises customers who rely on Internet Explorer to surf the web to decide whether they really need to use Java, and the web browser plugin in particular. Those who don’t necessarily need the component are instructed by the Redmond company to check out the Knowledge Base article 2751647.
When the world learned of the new Java zero-day vulnerability, many believed that since it was a serious issue, Oracle would rush to address it.
In the meantime, the exploit has been added to BlackHole and Metasploit, and we found out that the company has been aware of the problem since April but failed to fix it. This has caused some panic among users and experts are advising everyone to disable the faulty component.
The article provided by Microsoft contains detailed instructions on how to disable the Java web plugin in Internet Explorer to ensure that the exploit can’t affect your computer.
Since Java can be invoked in two ways – by using an applet element or an object element – both these security controls need to be configured through the registry.
In order to disable Java, users must set kill bits for the Java CLSID and set the URL action to Disable.
To do this, customers must modify the registry, a tricky operation if you don’t know what you’re doing. However, by closely following Microsoft’s instructions, almost anyone can do it.
First of all, make a backup of your current registry just in case anything goes wrong. Once the backup is done, create a new text document (using Notepad) and paste this text into it.
Save the file with a .reg extension and execute it by double-clicking it. That’s about it! All you need to do now is restart Internet Explorer.
To ensure that it works, try accessing this webpage. If you see a gray box with the puzzle icon instead of a message which reads “Your Java is working,” then you’re all set.