I believe I just fell victim to this while using firefox. Does anyone know the damage it causes? As of now I can not boot to windows, so no safe mode. I can not boot using a CD then again it is a OEM version I used previously so might not work in this scenario. But I believe the HDD is finished. If it was a desktop I would try a BIOS reset but as it is a Laptop I do not have the necessary tools to open it up.

Do you think factory warranty covers this? lol worst luck in the world with this laptop

By the way, this was on the latest version of Java so it is still not safe. Unless you need it, you should disable and remove it.

Funny story about Java vulnerability (tangental to the OP, but whatevs), the company i work for, who is very super-serious about protecting confidential information (we deal in names, personal info, social security numbers, federal background checks) has their system running entirely on a Java-based program...

What makes you think you fell victim to it?

i havent heard of the java vulnerability doing something like this but i suppose its possible. have u tried booting with a new hdd

Java is fine, it's the browser plugin that's had all of the vulnerabilities.

Yes Java in itself is fine to use. Its the plugins / extensions released to home users on Firefox, Chrome, Oracle (Opera? I know its an O something lol), etc

My AVG/Malwarebytes informed me my Java was vulnerable and advised to disable it, 5 seconds later everything is dead. Just a random attack using the Java vulnerability.

As soon as I can buy a new one, yes. As of now I have no alternative hdd to put in it.

I extensively use Java as well at my work place. It is a great tool but they still have yet to fix their extension/plugin security problem since version 7 has been released. For web browsers.