Sun Java software. Do I need it

I am trying to clean up my PC as it has slowed down a bit.
I notice that I have a lot of Sun Microsystems Java software and do not know if it was on there when I got the system and so need to keep it or if I downloaded it from the internet and can get rid of it.
Does anyone know what I would be using it for. It is taking up a lot of space.

Sun Java is used by a lot of software. If you remove it things could break

I all you do is general browsing, you probably do not need it.

But, if you use web sites that use download Java applets or if you use stand-alone Java programs (not very common), you certainly need it. This is not the same as JavaScript which does not need Sun Java.

As along as you keep the Sun Java runtime, sometimes known as the JRE, you can, mostly, safely, delete any transient downloaded Applets.

It's very unlikely that Sun Java iteself is slowing down your machine.

Technologist said:

It's very unlikely that Sun Java iteself is slowing down your machine.

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I think Technologist could be right. Your machine could have slowed down due to some sort of malware. Install and run Adaware and a virus scanner such as AVG-Free (if you don't already have one). Both of these are free and should be able to remove the things you really don't need on your system.

Adaware
[broken link removed]

AVG-Free
http://free.grisoft.com

Technologist said:

But, if you use web sites that use download Java applets .

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I would imagine that if this is the case and I deleted it then it would download again if it was a site that I use on a regular basis (such as this one).

The Java runtime should only be about 100-200MB which is negligable size these days in most cases. The size should not be the cause of problems. And under normal circumstances the runtime should not be slowing your PC down. Of course by all means remove software that you don't use but if your PC has been slowing down then chances are it's due to other factors such as those mentioned above or disk fragmentation etc. If you do remove Java and then find that you do need it then you can just download and install it again.