Java - Runtime Environment

Java is a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems Inc. By using a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for each operating system, programmers can, at least in theory, develop software which will then run on any operating system that has a JRE available.

In addition to being necessary for a Java program to work, the JRE can also adds functionality to your browser, via applets embedded in a web page. Java also extends the functionality of the OpenOffice.org office suite.

For these reasons, although you won't use the JRE directly, it is an essential piece of software for your computer. Sun has made freely available JREs for Windows™, Solaris™, Linux™, and Macintosh™ OS X.

Installing the Program

Sun's Java website, http://www.java.com, provides a download button on its home page. Click on this button, and you will be presented with a download page, based on the browser you use, human language, and operating system. This is an automatic mechanism, which installs the JRE for you, but it is not clear where the downloaded files are stored. Personally, I prefer to be able to download the software first, and then install the program myself. Fortunately, this is possible by clicking on the “See other operating systems here” link, near the top of the page. This produces a list of all JREs per operating system. Choose the JRE for your operating system - I chose the offline version for Windows, so that I could keep a complete copy of the software on my hard disk. Click on the download link of the latest version, currently version 6 update 1.

As for all guide downloads, I have saved this file in my downloads folder creating a www.java.com sub folder. Use Windows Explorer to open this sub folder, then double click on the jre-6u1-windows-i586-p-s.exe file and you will see the following dialog box:

The typical setup is perfectly satisfactory for our purposes, so click on Accept >. This will start the installation, and you can follow the progress in the dialog below:

Once the installation completes after a few minutes, you will see the following dialog:

Click on Finish.

Uninstalling the Program

Java uses the standard Windows uninstall mechanism. From the desktop, double click on My Computer, then from the left hand pane select Add or Remove programs thus:

Select the Java Runtime Environment program, then click on Remove. The following warning dialog is displayed:

Click on Yes (or just press the Enter key) to continue. If you have a program running which uses Java, then you will be presented with a dialog similar to this:

Close the program or programs listed (the list represents the window title or titles), then click on Retry. The Java runtime environment will then be uninstalled, and you can follow the progress in the dialog below:

When the dialog closes, Java will have been uninstalled.

Important note:

Remember that any programs that you have installed which require the Java Runtime Environment to work won't function anymore, so they should probably also be uninstalled.

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