Is Technology Slowing You Down?
The Google Chrome Browser Dilemma
This is not a subject that I would normally write about except as a business owner myself, I found myself spending an hour and a half on Tuesday morning panicking as Google Chrome updated overnight. In their infamous wisdom on their quest to dominate the universe they have begun their withdrawal of support for NPAPI (Netscape Plugin API) which is what most browsers use to support plugins. This started awhile back, but since it did not affect me, I ignored it until this morning when I found many of the applications I use online use Java.
For those of you that ran into the Java problem in the last few days, there is a temporary workaround until September, when Google removes support for any plug-in using NPAPI. If like me, you live on Google Chrome and utilize a few Java applications, this will buy you a little time until you can find a new browser home.
- Under About Chrome, if Google just updated you to version 42, you will encounter this problem
- You will need to go to the Java website (www.java.com) and download the latest version which today is Version 8, Update 45.
- Install it and do not panic when it does not work or show up under your Chrome plug-ins.
- At the browser enter chrome://flags/#enable-npapi and it will take you to a screen of flags
- For the enable-npapi flag you will click Enable and at the bottom of the screen click Relaunch Now at the bottom
- You should now see Java listed when you enter chrome://plugins/ in your Chrome browser.
This will buy you a few months continuing to use Google Chrome for your online applications that use Java
Like many of you, I have gotten use to Chrome and live a good part of my day using it when connected to the Internet. I have embraced all of the Chrome extensions which allow me to use many of the online programs I use to save time in my day. Oracle's answer (who now owns Java) is to not use Chrome and go back to the dark ages of Internet Explorer or download Firefox. Though I love Chrome, I am not about to let Google hold me hostage any more than I let Microsoft when they believed they could, so I have downloaded Firefox to find they have implemented a way to import your bookmarks from Chrome. This hopefully has helped a few of you that encountered a similar problem this week.
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