Uninstall Java JDK 11 Successfully From Mac: Steps To Clean Java JDK 11 From Mac OS X Quickly. It is true that several times use faces difficulty when try to uninstall Java JDK 11 from their Mac machine. Note that whether you uninstall Java and JRE by command line or by the Mac Finder GUI, the result is the same, you are specifically removing the Java plugins, control panels, and application support for Java from the Mac.
Learn the background of Java usage on Mac, the related security and stability issues and get easy-to-follow instructions on Java removal from Mac OS X. Oracle Java is actually a fairly essential piece of software for contemporary computer use regardless of the platform. Whether the operating system is Windows, Macintosh OS X, Ubuntu Linux or Solaris, having Java up and running is what powers activities like playing online games, chatting over the Internet, viewing 3D images, using custom solutions for business, various web browsing aspects and quite a few more.
It’s obvious that the importance of this solution is out of the question. To proceed with this guide, though, it makes sense looking back at some Mac-specific issues which have added a few question marks to the cybersecurity and user experience facets. In early 2012 a massive outbreak of the infamous Flashback Trojan reportedly caused the contamination of more than half a million Mac machines.
These boxes were added to a botnet due to an unpatched Java vulnerability for Mac OS X. Visiting a malicious or compromised website would lead to the users getting obscurely infected. It’s worth mentioning in this context that although the problem had been addressed by Oracle months before, Apple failed to roll this fix out to their user community on time. That is, aside from Java being inherently a weak link in terms of security because of its notorious vulnerabilities, Macs were at a particular risk because Apple’s and Oracle’s patch schedules simply wouldn’t match. This is largely due to Apple having its own version of Java that got shipped separately and there was a significant lag in critical security updates. With Java update to version 7, this “time difference” issue was resolved.
In the meanwhile, some stability problems came on stage, such as XProtect having false positives on the updated Java and thus preventing Mac users from accessing some web pages or using certain applications. At the end of the day, directly or indirectly, Java often appears to be a troublemaker for Mac users. Both the frequent vulnerability issues allowing malicious code to get inside and widespread stability problems make some people end up wanting to uninstall this software from their boxes. That being said, it’s important to point out that Java and JavaScript are different things, and uninstalling the former does not necessarily lead to the latter being gone. JavaScript is a scripting language and it’s purely browser related, enhancing interactivity to sites during web surfing.
Furthermore, these two use different plugins. The part below describes fairly simple methods to uninstall Oracle Java 7.0 and later versions from Mac OS X. Uninstall Java from Mac manually Oracle Java can be manually uninstalled from your Mac in several ways. The first method described below involves moving the Java Plugin file (Java.AppletPlugin.plugin) to trash. The other workaround allows getting the job done by entering a specific command in the Terminal.
Uninstall Java by removing the Java Plugin file. Go to Finder – Applications.
Type or paste JavaAppletPlugin.plugin in the search box. The interface will display the file you are looking for. Rick-click on the file and select Move to Trash in the drop-down menu. You’re now done removing Java from your Mac. Use the Terminal to uninstall Java.
Go to Applications – Utilities and launch the Terminal. When in the Terminal, type or paste the string below and enter your admin password if requested: sudo rm -fr /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin Use automatic tool to completely uninstall Java from your Mac 1.
Download and install MacBooster application. The tool provides both optimization and security features for your Mac. Proceed to the Uninstaller feature, find Oracle Java on the Applications list and have MacBooster completely eliminate all components of the app from your Mac by clicking Uninstall in the bottom part of the GUI. Doing so will ensure all components of the malware and its remainders, which may have not been removed in the manual way, will be thoroughly cleaned up.
You can run Java apps in two ways. The first is to run Java applets inside your Web browser with a plug-in. The second is to run native Java apps on your Mac. With the grave security concerns about Java these days, you may be thinking about how to remove or disable both of those Java systems completely from your Mac. This how-to discusses procedures to uninstall/disable both the plug-in ahd the full Java system.
It also looks at the differences between Java 6 and Java 7. Java Applets & Plug-ins Many Mac users retain the ability to run Java applets in their browser with a browser plug-in. Oracle now maintains that plug-in for Mac users. If you, because of recent security alerts, to Java 1.7 (or 'Java 7' in Java-speak) from Oracle, you'll find the plug-in in /Library/Internet Plug-ins.
The file is 'JavaAppletPlugin.plugin' and has the icon shown on the left. Also, when you installed Oracle's Java 7 browser plug-in, you installed a Preference Pane in System Preferences under 'Other.'
Oracle's Java Preference Pane That Preference Pane manages the Oracle Java 7 browser plug-in for applets. It will auto-detect that a new version is available, but it will not do the installation.
You need to do that yourself under the Update tab. The Update Tab. Available updates will be presented. Java 7 won't run in Chrome because Chrome is 32-bit and Java 7 is 64-bit.
That leaves Safari and Firefox as the remaining major Mac browsers. Disabling the Browser Plug-in The best way to block the applet plug-in in /Library/Internet Plug-ins for both Safari and Firefox browsers is to disable it in the Java Preference Pane. Uncheck the box circled below and restart your browser. Disable Java for browsers. By the way, you can verify which version is installed by looking at the Java tab and select 'View.' Verify the plug-in version. You can also dig down into the plug-in with the terminal app and extract the version number.
/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/bin/java -version I showed this command not to be geeky but to reveal the structure of Oracle's Java applet plug-in. You can do that your self by using 'Show Package Contents' on the plug-in.
Alternatively, to be really safe, you could delete the file: 'JavaAppletPlugin.plugin' in /Library/Internet Plug-ins. But that would make it harder to easily re-enable the plug-in if you ever need it. Most of the security issues reported so far relate to this Java applet plug-in for browsers because it is the vehicle through which maliciously crafted websites work. Apple stopped providing its own Java browser plug-in in October, 2012 and a subsequent Software Update deleted it.
Oracle has assumed responsibility for the Java applet plug-in since then. Finally, you can test whether your Java plug-in has been disabled by going to Oracle's Java applet test page:.
(Safari and Firefox may respond slightly differently.) Only if your plug-in is up to date, enabled and working properly, will you see this: Java browser plug-in up to date and working properly. Java Applications and Java 6 Depending on the history of your Mac, you may still have Java 1.6 (or 'Java 6' in Java-speak) installed for both development and native Java applications. Java 6 is a full-fledged development system that allows developers to write and you run full Java applications such as. Apple, not Oracle, still for OS X based on patches provided by Oracle.
(However, Oracle seems ready to for non-corporate users.) The Two Different Java Systems This is what confuses many users. They know they upgraded the applet plug-in for the browser, but the terminal command 'java -version' doesn't refer to the plug-in. It shows you the version of Apple's full Java 6 package for development and native apps. They may have different version numbers. Snow Leopard Up through OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard., Apple provided Java 6 pre-installed, and they still maintain it.
The latest version is. If you've kept your system up to date with Apple Software updates, and you open a terminal window and type 'java -version' (without the quotes), you should see this: Fig 5. Getting the Java 6 version number.
I'll get to how to disable that Java install further down. Lion & Mountain Lion If you bought a new Mac with Lion or Mountain Lion pre-installed, Java 6 is not there. It's an optional install nowadays.
If you upgraded a Snow Leopard Mac to Lion and/or Mountain Lion, I believe that the install process suppressed Java 6 without a complete uninstall. From looking at my two Macs, it appears that the upgrade removed the directory/folder: /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines. That will stop any Java application cold in is tracks from running.
On such a Mac, if you enter 'java -version' you'll get a prompt inviting you to install Java 6, like this: Fig 6. Invitation to install Java 6 Or perhaps you installed Java 6 in order to run an older version of GoToMeeting. Or an Adobe installer may have done it. After a Java 6 installation, there is a large collection of Java files is deeply embedded into OS X, and, unlike the simple plug-in for the browser, it's not easy to uninstall all those files. And no formal uninstaller exists.
Matthew Dornquast of Code42 Software told me that the only SAFE way to remove all vestiges of Java 6 is to conduct a clean install of 10.8. And from then on, say 'no' if ever asked to install Java. Is Java 6 Installed? To see if Java 6 is installed, on the command line, enter, after the prompt: java -version If you see the invitation to install Java 6, shown in Fig. 6, you don't have an operational Java system for applications. (Recommended response: 'Not now.'
) If you see a result like I showed in Fig 5, then it should be Java 1.6.043 (as of this writing.) Uninstalling Java 6 and forum commenters have suggested a few tricky ways, from the command line, to partially uninstall Java 6 by deleting certain directories or files. There are several serious problems with deleting specific Java 6 files:. Java 6 isn't really, completely uninstalled. Some applications or suites, for example from Adobe, depend on Java being on the Mac in that form.
If you munge about, deleting key Java files, all kinds of unexplainable things might happen down the road. It's hard to re-enable Java for full applications if you need it unless you have very accurate notes on those files you deleted (or renamed). Some of those examples use the diabolically dangerous 'rm -rf' shell command, which if misunderstood and mistyped or misused, could damage your Mac and require you to reinstall OS X. The best advice I have is to keep your Java 6 up to date and secure using the OS X Software Update function. After a period of inattention, Apple is being much more aggressive in keeping Java 6 up to date and secure. At some point in the future, you'll buy a new Mac with OS X 10.8 or 10.9 installed, and your Mac will be 100 percent free of Java 6.
For now, if you're concerned about native Java apps that access websites, just don't run them. Note that on a Mac without Java 6, you could still install Oracle's browser plug-in as described above. Java Applications and Java 7 JDK If you, because of security alerts, somewhere along the line, installed, then entering the command 'java -version' will reflect that Oracle's Java 7 has been installed for development. However, Apple's Java 6 is not deleted, (they can co-exist) and as I wrote here, ': More importantly, unless you know what you're doing with Java development, installing Java 7 JDK could break any stand-alone Java 6 apps you may have been using that depend on knowing where to find Java 6. (Most Java apps for the Mac have been written in Java 6). The bottom line: don't install the (Java 7) JDK from Oracle unless you're an expert user.'
Summary It is very difficult to simply disable and re-enable Java 6, let alone delete it entirely, without Unix experience. Expert users may elect to delete key files to prevent Java 6 apps from ever running, but it's not a great idea for the average user without Unix and command line experience. It's better to be aware if you're running a native Java app, built for Java 6, and then keep Java 6 updated (with Software Update in OS X). Otherwise, find an alternative non-Java solution.
Remember, you're not vulnerable if you run a native Java 6 app, say, a text editor like, that doesn't visit websites like a browser plug-in is designed to do. If you really, really want to completely eradicate Java 6 from your Mac, which isn't really necessary, you'll need to do a clean install of Lion or Mountain Lion. There are security issues with Java 6 on 10.5 Leopard that will never be fixed.