Updated to 10.9.4 (Mavericks). Now a fake 'java' update request keeps popping up.

Mavericks uninstalls Java as it's responsible for most of security breaches (with Flash Player) and very few people actually use it.

So this is not a fake update, if you want/need Java you need to reinstall it and follow the link OS X is providing you (latest and thus most secured Java installer).

This is a legit alert, shown by Mac OS X when a Java app is opened without having Java installed. Most likely, you upgraded to Mavericks from some older system that had Java installed. Installing a major Mac OS X upgrade these days results in Java being removed, so any Java app that might be part of some other software you're using would have worked fine then, but isn't working now. The trick is figuring out what that might be.

The fact that the process is named "java" doesn't necessarily mean that it's malicious. Many legit apps include sloppily-named components that the developers think the user will never see.

Next time it appears, make note of the time and look in the Console for Java-related messages appearing at the same time. You may get a clue as to what is triggering this message.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It makes no changes to your data.

Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

find /[AL]* -type d -name *.app -prune -exec sh -c 'ls -R "$1" | grep -q \.jar\$' {} {} \; -print0 2>&- | xargs -0 basename -s .app | pbcopy

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.

Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear below what you entered.

The output of the command will be automatically copied to the Clipboard. If the command produced no output, the Clipboard will be empty. Paste into a reply to this message.

The Terminal window doesn't show the output. Please don't copy anything from there.

thomas_r. wrote:

This is a legit alert, shown by Mac OS X when a Java app is opened without having Java installed. Most likely, you upgraded to Mavericks from some older system that had Java installed. Installing a major Mac OS X upgrade these days results in Java being removed, so any Java app that might be part of some other software you're using would have worked fine then, but isn't working now. The trick is figuring out what that might be.

The fact that the process is named "java" doesn't necessarily mean that it's malicious. Many legit apps include sloppily-named components that the developers think the user will never see.

Next time it appears, make note of the time and look in the Console for Java-related messages appearing at the same time. You may get a clue as to what is triggering this message.

Actually in this case Java is a Unix layer component and executables in Unix generally have lowercase names. Java is therefore an executable normally located at

/usr/bin/java

(Notice the fact it is lowercase.)

Something that wants to run Java code is trying to use java at this standard location and as others have mentioned java is not installed as standard any more and when you upgrade it is usually removed. Apple have however put a check in place so that when some software tries to use it if it is not installed it triggers this dialog box. (The same thing happens with X11 software.)

Software that might want to legitimately use java includes Symantec Anti-Virus for Mac (a really stupid idea for anti-virus software), Various SSL VPN clients, and some installer packages. However installer packages would not automatically be running repeatedly unless the original poster has a system to auto-install stuff. It is somewhat surprising and unhelpful that Apple do not indicate which software triggers the message.

Hi

This was an old thread so not sure if you'll get this message but here's my output on using your script;

Adobe Flash CC 2014

CircularFLO

DPS App Builder

GuitarPro

Xcode

Install DPS App Builder

All these apps are already installed and running fine?

Thanks