The different software developers who have ongoing projects try to offer us the best of their work for the benefit of users. This is the case of Windows and its applications, Linux distributions , or development platforms such as Java. We mention the latter because we are going to focus on it in these same lines.
Surely it’s something you’ve been hearing about for years, although perhaps less and less. However Java is something that is still present in many computers and systems, so we are going to see what it is really about. First of all we must know that in the operating systems and the applications that surround them, we can find a series of platforms that accompany them. These ensure that everything works in the most correct way, even if it is in the background, something almost transparent to the user.
This is the case of Java, a component that has been part of our teams for many years, something that is declining, and which some were not even aware of. However, for years we could say that Java has been an important component to run a large amount of software . Programs that we have made use of daily thanks to all this.
What is Java and what is its use
To begin we will tell you that when we speak of Java , we are actually referring to a programming language that is decades old and that is used by many around the world. It could be said that it is a platform marketed since last year 1995 by the popular firm Sun Microsystems . Therefore, its accumulated importance over the years is given because there are many applications and websites that do not work unless we have the Java component installed on the PC .
This is something that affects all kinds of operating environments on the computer, something that concerns the end user, large data centers, or mobile devices . However, despite its enormous popularity for a good number of years, it is a development environment that is increasingly less popular. This is largely due to the security breaches and vulnerabilities that have been discovered in recent times. In fact such is the case that in these times, many even recommend disabling or uninstalling it completely from our computer equipment .
Java in Windows 10
As we tell you, this is a development environment that over time has been losing followers, something that of course has affected its penetration and use. Of course, we must bear in mind that the current operating system most used in desktop computers, Windows 10, continues to have support for all this. In fact we can affirm that Java is certified in Windows 10 since Java version 8 update 51.
At the same time, when it comes to web browsers that have support for the standard, whereas it was common before, right now we can only use it in Internet Explorer . This is but one more proof of how its use is dropping significantly in recent times.
In case you want to activate it here, you just have to click on the Tools button of the program and then on Internet Options. Here we go to the tab called Security and press the Custom level button. An extensive list will appear where we have to locate Automation of Java applets, which we enable.
How to download Java safely
All in all, users who still need or want to use Java on their computers, for example based on Windows 7 or Windows 10, can still do so. That is why we will explain below how to do it in the safest way. In principle, what we should take into account is that it is recommended to download Java only from its official website, that is, from this link .
Therefore, to get hold of the development component that we have told you about, all we have to do is click on the Java Free Download button. Then it will give us a window in which we are informed if our browser can execute the Java plugin, which most of the time will be negative at the moment.
Once we accept everything, we download Java as one more executable of any other program. Therefore, once it has been completely downloaded to our computer , we can install it by simply double-clicking on the corresponding file. This will make the Java component already part of our operating system.
Precautions to take when using Java
Anyway, to avoid the security problems that we have told you about, at least as far as possible, we can take some precautions. First of all, we must make sure that we always have the latest version of Java installed on the computer. To do this, we just have to start the Java Control Panel by writing the name of the programming language in the Windows search bar.
Once we have it on the screen, at the top of the window we find several tabs, among which we find the Update call. Well, this is where we will have the opportunity to indicate to the platform to update automatically, which is the most recommended.
On the other hand and as a precautionary measure, we also recommend that you go to the Security tab. We tell you this because in this section we will have the possibility of establishing the level of security when running Java applications . Therefore, as you can imagine, the best thing is that in this section we put it as Very high.
Uninstall Java on Windows
Well, once we have seen how to install Java on our Windows computer and the precautions to take in its use, let’s see how we can uninstall it. To say that for this we have two equally effective methods, one manual , and the other from the platform itself. First of all, we have the possibility of removing the Java component from our PC using the traditional method.
That is, we can access the Configuration application with Win + I and go to Applications / Applications and features. In the list that appears, we do not have to look for the entry corresponding to Java, where we find an uninstall button.
On the other hand, it is also worth knowing that the platform itself presents us with its own uninstaller that we can download to the team. Thus, after executing it, it detects the version of Java that we have installed, and removes it from the PC. This is something that we can achieve from this link .