Do you understand Java vs JavaScript?
On Saturday Homeland Security issued an alert to the American public advising them to disable Java on their computers because of a security breach in Java.
The security breach will cause havoc in so many ways to your computer, your personal identity, and your financial well-being.
What appears to be happening however, is most people are confusing Java and JavaScript when they read the Homeland Security alert.
Do you understand Java vs JavaScript? My friend and smart computer guy Shawn Hall has written an easy to understand explanation of what Java is and how it differs from JavaScript. You may want to read this explanation before disabling JavaScript on your computer.
A number of websites are currently run on JavaScript code and if you disable it you will basically be out of business. Even Social Networks like Facebook use JavaScript and it will NOT work properly if you disable JavaScript on your computer.
On Jan. 12, 2013 Shawn Hall of 12 Point Design explained the question below, to help you understand Java vs JavaScript.
“Sigh. I love it when the government posts alerts like these.
The first and most important thing to understand is that JAVA and JAVASCRIPT are NOT the same thing. They’re completely different technologies – think “horse and seahorse.” DO NOT disable JAVASCRIPT, as that’s required on most sites today. DO disable JAVA if you don’t really need it, or, better yet…
If you don’t need it, REMOVE IT COMPLETELY. Java is the second most exploited software on any OS and is rarely actually necessary for desktop and laptop computers. The exceptions where you’d need it include OpenOffice, certain games (Yahoo Games, Minecraft) and for sites designed back in the 90s (yes, seriously).
If you can’t remove it because you need it for certain software on your computer like OpenOffice – disable it in your browsers. How you do this depends on the browser, but it’s usually under “extensions.” Just disable it. IF you ever actually need it in your browser you can turn it back on.
This is true whether you’re using Windows, Mac or Linux. If you don’t need it, remove it! Even if you think you need it, remove it anyway and see how long you can go before you actually need it again – chances are good you won’t ever notice. If you need it at a future time, you can install it by going directly to http://java.com/.
So if you have been advised to disable Java on your computer, that may be a good thing to do. However, if you disable JavaScript on your computer you may be out of business. Here in California, the newly named DRE (now called bureau of real estate) runs all the forms they provide their members with using JavaScript. If you can't get to your form for writing listing agreements and purchase agreements, you are out of business.
Oracle has indicated they will have a patch for the security breach of Jave on Tuesday. However, on Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013 Oracle released a patch for the security breach."
You can find it here if you need to fix the possible security breach on your computer:
