[WatchOut]

MANAGING JAVA APPLETS

Just like ActiveX Controls, downloaded Java Applets are located in %SystemRoot%\Downloaded Program Files, where you can view, update and remove them. Java Applets don't have unrestricted access to your system because they run in a "sandbox". In this sandbox an applet can do the following:

Access threads in the current execution context


Open network connections to the applet host so it can download other needed files


Create a popup window with a banner warning the user that it ws created within a Java Applet.


Access reflection Application Programming Interfaces for classes from the same loader


Read base system properties, like Java version, VM vendor and Operating System.
For more details about the security of Java Applets see Java Security Settings in this article.


MANAGING SCRIPTS

A script is embedded in a web page, and is written in VBScript or JScript. Scripts can also be saved as stand alone files (the extensions used are .vbs for VBScript and .js for Jscript). With the Windows Scripting Host they can executed as well. Many viruses are written as scripts, so use a good Anti-Virus program to protect you from scripted email.

Because scripts normally make use of known exploits and security breaches, keep up to date with Windows and Internet Explorer patches!

Internet Explorer includes a number of security settings that affect scripting, see earlier in this article.

You can configure the Internet Zone to prompt when a site wants to execute a script. And create a security zone with sites that you deem trustworthy. After the site has been proven to be benign, you add it to the newly created security zone, and it will run as normal.