Allen Computer Tech

Java 6 Upgrade

by Joshua - April 9th, 2010.
Filed under: Java, Upgrade.

Update: On April 15th, 2010, Sun released Java 6 Update 20. This update patched a security hole in previous versions of Java.

Java is installed on many people’s computers to allow them to run programs in their Internet Browser, (Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc…) or other programs on their computer that are written in the Java computer language. This article covers the 32-bit edition of Java. Most users, even if they use a 64-bit edition of Windows, use 32-bit Java. If you have both the 32 & 64 bit editions of Java installed on your computer, you will have to do the following twice, once for each edition. More information about 64-bit Java is available at the Java website.

Like most applications, it has the ability to update itself to patch security holes, or improve various features of itself. You can access and control when Java does this by it’s icon in the Control Panel. If you do not see the Java icon listed, you may have change the ‘View by:’ settings to Large Icons in Windows 7, or ‘Switch to Classic View’ in Windows XP.

Java (32-bit) in Windows 7

Java Control Panel Icon in Windows XP

If you double-click on the icon, you will see the Java Control Panel appear. You will see several tabs across the top: General, Update, Java, Security, and Advanced. Click on the ‘Update’ tab to change settings on when Java will check for an update to itself.

Java Control Panel - Update Tab

Clicking on the ‘Advanced…’ button will allow you to set how often Java will check for an update. Clicking on the ‘Update Now’ button at the bottom will check and see if you have the latest version immediately. If you don’t have the latest version, you will see a notification pop up on your Windows taskbar. You may recall having seen it before when Java has wanted to update in the past. If you click on it, the Java Update screen will appear. Click on ‘Install’ to proceed with the update.

Java Notification in Taskbar

Java Update Available

After clicking ‘Install’ on the Java Update screen, the actual setup installation will begin, click ‘Install’ again.

Java Setup 1

Then an offer will appear, usually in the form of asking you to install a toolbar into your Internet Browser. I don’t recommend installing any search toolbars into your browser, as too many will slow your browser down, and they change your search defaults when you may not want them too. If you don’t want to change your browser search settings, click the check box so that it is clear before proceeding. Click on ‘Next >’ to continue.

Java Setup - Yahoo NOT selected

Java Setup - Carbonite IS selected

If you launched the update process though the Control Panel, it will ask you to close it down. If you started it through the Taskbar, or closed it out already, it will not display the following. Click through the prompts ‘Clost Programs and Continue’ and ‘OK’, then Java will commence installing.