Okay please excuse my sarcasm but...
I manage about 6,700 computers for a school district and Java is killing me. Teachers are being prompted to update java and they do. The problem is that most them don't bother to read (don't get me started) and they install the wonderful ask tool bar (Thanks so much Oracle! ) and the update is NOT compatible with some of the software we run. I can script the removal of the ask tool bar no problem. The problem is the update.
So I need to 1) uninstall the newer version or better yet all versions of java, 2) install an older version and 3) Disable java update checker from ever running.
I've had scripts in the past that disables updates and removes all versions of java (before 1.0.7_x) but now nothing works. I can't script the removal of all java, and my scripts to disable updating (which are mostly just reg hacks) get overwritten when java is ran from IE or Firefox. It also gets overwritten when someone opens Java from the control panel.
Version 1.0.7_x must have new ways to disable updates and uninstall.
What's crazy about this whole thing is that I've actually seen it where users have manually turned off the update checker and they still get prompted for updates later.
Does anyone have any pointers?
I know Oracle is in a hard spot with this stuff. If they don't update java then they leave security holes in place. On the other hand if they do update java then they run the risk of breaking other software from running. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
There has to be a better way of managing updates for enterprise networks.