Physics 6720: How to tell your browser to accept old Javascript


Many web sites use Javascript to run small applications within your browser. Because of security vulnerabilities with older versions of Javascript, browsers require extra security features before running them. Those features are provided by more recent versions of Java. Older Javascript tools that do not use these security features are now blocked from running in most browsers. So what do you do if you need to use one of the older Javascript tools? The best solution is to ask the authors of those scripts to update them with the latest version of Java. The alternative is to unlock security.

It is always risky to punch holes through a security barrier. We do it very cautiously and only with trusted sites. Here is how to do it for selected URLs:

On our lab computers, run the Unix command

 ControlPanel
You should get a window for setting Javascript preferences. (See the figure.) Select the "Security" tab and click on "Edit Sites". Type in the URL of the site that you trust, as shown. Click "OK".