Sorry, that link is broken. Use the test page:

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

Current is U65.

Hi:

There is definitely a problem with the Java 8 Update 11 with Firefox 31.0. Additionally, there have been problems with Java and Firefox in the recent past as well. What is the real deal with this? The Oracle people claim that Java is NOT the problem, while the Firefox programmers, etc., state that Java has a "security" vulnerability problem. In the meantime, many websites that I need and use are NOT working while these two entities go back and forth. As a longtime Firefox user. I'm getting quite fed up with this whole mess! In the end, everybody loses; users, Oracle, and Firefox.

By the way, the link you provided, simply takes you to Java's "verify version" page, where it shows that the Java plugin is not active. I am seeking solutions, not excuses. Thanks.

I haven't tried Java 8 yet, and don't know about issues with it.

The test page is indeed designed to check whether you have the current version of the Java plugin.

When you are on the test page, does Firefox display the plugin notification icon in the address bar? Looks a bit like a Lego block. If so, and you click that, what does it show the status of Java to be? If it shows blocked, go ahead and unblock it.

If you prefer to allow all sites to use the Java plugin without having to unblock it in the address bar, you can change that setting on the Add-ons page. Either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Plugins. Then, for Java(TM) Platform SE7, change "Ask to Activate" to "Always Activate".

The Java plugin itself does some prompting, separate from Firefox's click-to-play feature, so you may still see permission dialogs from time to time.

Hi jscher:

Thanks for responding.

To answer your first question, no. There are no notifications, block, unblock or, for that matter, Java's status window that would indicate whether the Java plugin is installed. In short, Java 8 update 11 is virtually non-existent in Firefox 31.0. That being said, I uninstalled Java 8 and then installed, Java 7 update 67 (latest *working* version of Java for Firefox). Now, and this is important, once Java is installed, it is necessary to go into Java's installed folder (Win 7 x64) and disable the "deployment" file that will make Firefox give a red flag warning: (C:\Program Files x86\Java\jre7\bin\dtplugin. In that folder, edit deployJava1.dll and npdeployJava1.dll so that both files look like this: deployJava1.dll.BAK and npdeployJava1.dll.BAK. By adding .BAK at the end of these two files, the Firefox "Vulnerability" warning will not show when you check your Add-ons plugins status.

I hope this helps others.

Hi NYCGRIFF, thank you for sharing your solution.

For users who don't mind seeing that warning on the Add-ons page, it is simpler to disable the plugin there. Either:

• Ctrl+Shift+a (Mac: Command+Shift+a)
• "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons

In the left column, click Plugins. Then you should see two Java-related plugins:

• Java Deployment Toolkit: you can set this to "Never Activate" if you want to disable it completely and hide it from sites.

• Java(TM) Platform SE 7: this is the plugin most sites use to run Java. It's probably better NOT to disable this one completely.

Your link is to the install Java page..I know that exists but tried it anyway. Got a installation failed !! All that firefox should do is recoginize that it is outdated and go to a update page for JAVA ?? Is that too much to ask ?? So let me complicate this more and maybe help to get a better way to get this updated. Thje reason for going to firefox is that I am still running XP with IE 8. Since the support stopped I wanted a updated browser so firefox, The reason for the install fail is probably due to IE8 and XP, but still the firefox java plug in should be update able..So again I ask how to go about updating just the plugin for firefox-java. See replies to 8 the most recent I have seen is 7 U 65 !! YYou would think on the page that tells ypu it is outdate, then click on the update now button that it would just update !! but instead I get a book to read on Java ??

Hi 80vette, if the test page link I posted does not work, could you try this page which has full-download offline installers:

http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp (Firefox uses the 32-bit download, whether you have a 32-bit version of Windows or a 64-bit version of Windows)