Tried to use my bank's applet (in Firefox) for on-line check deposit and it hangs my computer (Windows 7). Same thing happens when I run the Java verifier applet (Verify Java Version). The Java verifier does its job and verifies my installation, but when I attempt to close the browser, or navigate to a different page (i.e., terminate the applet), my entire system hangs. (no mouse or keyboard interaction; no choice but power cycle). Because the hang occurs with two different applets from two different sites, it seems the problem is related to applets in general rather than being a problem with a particular one.
FWIW I have the Java console enabled and see no errors in the console before the hang.
What I've tried:
- Uninstall/reinstall Java (now at JRE 8u65); removed all old versions and ensured env. vars (CLASSPATH, JAVA_HOME) are correct.
- Uninstall/reinstall Firefox
- Disable antivirus (Kaspersky)
None of these helped.
Not sure what's changed since the last time I ran an applet; I don't run them often. However, I used my bank's on-line deposit applet on 11/5/2015. As far as I can remember, I've installed nothing new since then, and haven't made any substantive changes (except those listed above, which were done after the problem appeared). I went to System Restore to check restore points for a clue as to any changes I might have made only to find that System Restore was turned off. No idea how that happened; I've used it many times in the past.
Any ideas about what I might check/try to determine why applets hang my system?
One suggestion found in a Web search is to download the applet and run it in Eclipse with the applet viewer. Can somebody tell me how to download the Java verifier applet so I can try that? I couldn't find a link to the program, and inspection with Firebug didn't yield any obvious location.