Two questions that I suspect that we’ll be fielding on this are a) why is that important and b) why should you care. I’ll try to quickly address both here but don’t hesitate to let me know if I’ve missed anything.
Why is that important? Simply put, you’ve probably got Java installed and, unless you’ve updated it in the past 5 minutes (ok, that’s an exaggeration, but you get the point), you’re likely vulnerable to at least one of the many attacks out there.
Why should I care? Again, simply put, Java is one of the biggest (currently ranked by Kaspersky as THE biggest) vulnerability being exploited by cyber criminals to install malware.
Now, the question that you likely didn’t ask is what you need to do about it. First, do a quick inventory and, if you don’t need Java, remove it… Completely. If there’s no need to have it on your computer, it’s an unnecessary vulnerability. If you *do* need it though, make sure that you’ve got the most up-to-date version. Also, it’s not a bad idea to only install the browser plugin for a single browser and then only use that browser when you’re going to the site(s) that you have to have that uses Java.