Google Chrome 42 disables NPAPI support by default, and Project Spartan lacks ActiveX support entirely. Both of these changes prevent the use of Java in either browser.

The disabling of this feature will mean a large impact to several extensions and plugins that are available for the browser, such as Java. Chrome will now refuse to run the Java plugin as default.

NPAPI plug-ins were blocked since January 2014, but some of the popular ones were whitelisted, including Java, Unity, Silverlight, Facebook Video, and a couple of others.

Chrome 42, released to the stable channel today, will take a big step toward pushing old browser plugins, including Java and Silverlight, off the Web.

Choose Plugins in the left pane, scroll to the entry for the Java plug-in, and click its Disable button. Disable Firefox's Java plug-in via the browser's Add-on Manager.

The Java browser plugin, which allows certain applications to run in your browser, is being retired later this year. It was a common security vulnerability.

Plug-ins can open vulnerabilities in even relatively secure browsers like Chrome. Even coders, like Jeff Atwood, can fall victim. Here's how to reign in plug-ins like Java, or disable them ...