Unwanted Java Console Add-ons In Firefox

Recently I upgraded Firefox on our Windows XP machine to version 3.6.  Today I noticed that there were lots of versions of Java Console in the list of add-ons and it occurred to me that these might be slowing Firefox down (maybe Firefox was attempting to load them all on start-up?).  Anyhow I haven't used Java Console for a very long time (it is basically a tool software developers) so I went to uninstall them, but their Uninstall buttons were all greyed out.  Then I remembered that I installed Java from an administrator account, so I logged in as Windows administrator, started Firefox, and sure enough, I was able delete all the versions of Java Console from there.

Incidentally, you might also find Java Quick Start in the list of Firefox add-ons.  The sole function of this add-on seems to be to make Java start-up faster by making sure the core Java files are always in cache.  Of course this has the side-effect of slowing other things on your computer.  The best way to disable Java Quick Start is via the Java control panel in the Windows start menu:

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Java > Advanced > Miscellaneous

and then untick 'Java Quick Start' (you can always re-enable it if you really find that Java is unbearably slow in starting up).  You might also like to untick 'Place Java Icon in System Tray' while you're at it.

Comments

[linda lee]

I did all of the above.
I like Firefox about 5 versions ago and everytime I updated it messed so many things up for me.
I finally had to update and I have been finding more and more stupid stuff like this Java problem as my computer is doing all kinds of weird stuff since the install.
I hate all the time I have to put in, researching answers, editing the registry, re-importinn all my bookmarks and passwords, since they did not come over with the new install.
I used to love firefox, now no so much.

[P. Valax]

Dear Linda Lee,

I can understand that you don't like to have to re-import all your bookmarks and password, I also hate that, but there is a very good Firefox add-on for that called Xmarks. Since I use it, I'm really happy because it saves your bookmarks and passwords (it's secure, controlled by separate passwords for your bookmarks and your passwords). Then you can go online and, by connecting to Xmarks and entering your passwords, you can automatically download all your bookmarks or/and passwords. The great thing is that if you travel, or change computers, whatever computer you go to, you can find your bookmarks again, you can even define different bookmarks profile and select the ones you want to download, etc. Read the description in Firefox add-ons, that will be more detailed than here, but I have tried that (because I have a lot of bookmarks) and it really satisfies me.
Hope that can solve some of your problems.

Cheers,

P.V.