Do you all worry about people turning off java and javascript due to security concerns? I use the script for rollover navigation buttons (I also have read that search engines don't like it).

Though I'm not particularly security conscious myself, I started reading up on it recently due to my IP pool being blocked on some sites (turns out you can counter that by anonymous surfing -- so much for the protection that awful practice provides). Anyhow the sites that worry about security say such things as
"(turn off java, javascript, cookies, what's related, and smart update ... ). " I don't know how many people do this, as it seems like an integral part of the net to me, but -- do you worry about it in your site design?

This is what I use the languages as:

Javascript - Mainly used as a form validator and browser manipulator, also used to detect things about the user.
Java - Online Applications

doing anything more with javascript is stupid. Things such as rollovers are best done with dhtml.

I used javascript for rollovers once, never going to do it again. Usually not a good idea

Cookies, some are good, some are bad. In theory, a large network of sites could be created that store a cookie on your computer that holds your browsing behaviors and patterns. Every site in this network could access this info and intrude on your privacy. In reality, any large network that does this will get heavily flamed from users and the use of this practice on a large scale network of sites is largely going to be heavily publicized so users will know about the danger beforehand.

smartupdate really isnt a security concern.

Anything deadly coming into my computer will get destroyed by the antivirus, adware remover, and firewall.

Considering how many zombie PCs there are that get used for DDoS attacks, I'd guess most common net users aren't smart enough to disable anything that isn't already disabled for them. They assume that everything is set up correctly out-of-the-box.

Originally Posted by notnamed

Considering how many zombie PCs there are that get used for DDoS attacks, I'd guess most common net users aren't smart enough to disable anything that isn't already disabled for them. They assume that everything is set up correctly out-of-the-box.

You could be correct there, I know I always worry that they know enough to set their font size so I'm not sure why I'm worrying that they will turn off their Java.