I just discovered that disabling the Java update from the Java-control panel didn't stick in Windows 7. This is because you need administrative rights to make it "stick".
Just go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin (path my vari on x86 system) and start the folli
ng executable with administrative rights: javacpl.exe (right-mouseclick).No go to the tab named: Update, uncheck the "Check for Updates Automatically", choose [Never Check] (to disable autoupdates completely) and click [OK].
This is a userbased solution, so you have to do this for every user on you computer.
I you want to disable the Java-updates for all users, then you have to do somne tweaking with regedit.
Go to [Start], type Regedit and start it with Administrative rights (right-mouseclick).
Dependent of your Windows version x86/x64 you have to change different registrykeys.
Windos 7 x86:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy] "EnableJavaUpdate"=dword:00000000Windows 7 x64:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy] "EnableAutoUpdateCheck"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy] "EnableJavaUpdate"=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\JavaSoft\Java Update\Policy] "EnableAutoUpdateCheck"=dword:00000000
The next time you start the Java-controlpanel, you will notice that the tab named Update, has been removed completely.
The get the tab and updates back, just change the registry vallues (from 0) to 1.
http://blogmines.com/blog/2011/06/23/how-to-disable-automatic-java-update-check-in-windows-7/
