I've been playing with the Java & JavaScript settings in Firefox (version 18.0). I lost some functionality when I disabled Firefox's JavaScript (pulldown Tools/Options/Content) but lost nothing when I disabled the runtime environment settings in Java.

So as has been suggested, I removed Java using Windows "Add or Remove Programs" in the control panel. As far as I can tell nothing has been lost.

Thanks to all for the suggestion.
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Better is the Enemy of Good Enough.
Okay, what’s your point??