JavaRa : Remove Older Versions of Java & Update to the Latest Version

Only a few days ago, Yahoo! advertisement network (ads.yahoo.com) were compromised. The attackers were able to use the Yahoo! ads to insert their own code which installed malware on anyone who visited such infected webpages. The attack made use of a known Java vulnerability. To prevent such attacks you should either remove Java or update it to the latest version. Although Java Runtime Environment (JRE) automatically updates itself, you might want to make sure that you are using the latest and most secure version of Java and freeware tool JavaRa can help you do just that. JavaRa not only helps you find latest updates to Java but also removes older redundant versions of Java from your computer.

JavaRa is a simple tool that makes removing older and redundant versions of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) a very simple task. JavaRa will check if your computer has the latest version of Java (JRE). If it finds that you have an older version, then it would download a newer version of Java and install this newer version for you. The installation of newer version is performed through Oracle Java’s own update program. It also allows you to remove all possible older versions of Java found on your system – making your system secure and freeing your hard disk space.

You can download JavaRa from the Singular Labs website. The download is a portable application. You can extract the program from the downloaded ZIP archive to a folder on your hard disk, and then run JavaRa.exe from that folder. JavaRa supports user interface in many languages. It automatically selects the default language for your computer (if you have Windows in US English, it will select the English language for you).

The JavaRa interface is very simple. It shows four buttons that you can use to perform various tasks. If you want to check for latest updates of JRE, then click on the Update Java Runtime button. You are given option to check for updates using the jucheck utility that comes with Oracle JRE. You can also choose to check for updates using the Oracle Java website.

JavaRa - Update or Remove Java

If you click on the Remove Java Runtime button, then JavaRa tries to remove Java from your computer in three steps. First it tries to launch the Oracle Java’s own uninstaller. This is the safest and easiest way to remove Java from your PC.

JavaRa - Update or Remove Java

If it does not find the Java uninstaller, or the uninstallation wizard fails to run, then you can move on to the second step. In this step, it removes all the files, folders and registry entries known to be associated with the Java Runtime Environment. You should always download the latest program definitions before proceeding to step 2. An option to update the definitions is given in the main JavaRa window (the third button). You can click on the Perform Removal Routine button to let it remove all the JRE related files and registry entries. This would take some time and a progress bar is displayed. It would also create a logfile on your primary hard disk partition. You can open this logfile to see which files belonging to which Java version were removed.

JavaRa - Update or Remove Java

In the third step, you are given an option to download the latest version of the JRE for your computer. You can use JavaRa to download it automatically or you can manually download it to your computer. But this should be done only if you want Java to be installed on your PC.

JavaRa - Update or Remove Java

If you click on the Additional Tasks button, then you would see multiple tasks that you can perform. All you have to do is check the related checkbox and click on the Run button. You can remove useless JRE temp files, remove startup entry, remove outdated JRE Firefox extensions and perform many other tasks using this.

JavaRa - Update or Remove Java

Conclusion: JavaRa gives you complete control over the installing, updating and other options of Java Runtime Environment. It allows you not only to check for newest updates of Oracle Java, but also helps you remove obsolete and unnecessary files from older versions of Java. You can use JavaRa to update your Java installation easily and make your computer secure.

You can download it from http://singularlabs.com/software/javara/.