Sorry, I can't tell you why that plugin might be needed on the Firefox Start Page.

Overall, that Java Development Toolkit isn't needed by the average user. Years ago that "Toolkit" was part of a separate developers "kit" from Java; consumers didn't get it when they installed the Java Run-time Environment.

About the only non-developer users who might need that "Toolkit" is users in institutional settings - like big corporations - who use other Oracle programs. Oracle bought Java from Sun Systems, the original developer of Java, a number of years ago.

Bottom line is that the Java Development Toolkit has some "holes" that make it exploitable on the Internet and Oracle refuses to patch those holes - so Mozilla disables that plugin. But each user is free to enable it as needed.

Thanks for your input.

I think somehow Firefox got demented and I need to reload it. It's now complaining about all plugins. E.g: I tried to print and it says Adobe Flash is out of date :-(

Oh well that's the life of software.

adobe has released a critical patch for a vulnerability in its flash plugin this week, which is reportedly already exploited in the wild. therefore firefox will block insecure versions from running by default on websites for your protection. https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb14-27.html https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/blocked/p798

please update to Adobe Flash Player version 16.0.0.235 as soon as possible, which you can download from http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html (use the windows-exe for plugin-based browsers).