Java is a cross-platform language that's been mightily abused by hackers. With new security bugs being discovered week after week, many experts advise everyone to simply disable Java. Here's how.

Scroll the list on the right-hand side of the screen until you find an item that reads “Java (TM) Platform [somethingsomethingsomething].” Click the “Disable” button on the right.

An unpatched hole in the Java runtime environment was found by researchers at Security Explorations recently. This has prompted many users to disable Java until a patch is released by Oracle ...

Having (sincerely) said you should read Oremus's story, I'm now going to quote the immediate news-you-can-use part of it, where he explains how to disable Java for the main browers.

The last time hackers found a hole in Java’s browser plugin so bad that it sparked a warning from Homeland Security—which was less than five months ...