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I am trying to avoid malware, virus, spyware, trojan, etc etc etc

Thanks in advance.
You could start by switching to Yosemite first.

Keeping your OS up to date is the first thing in security. Even if it's at the expense of performance. Security trumps all.

To disable Java, disable from its System Preference pane.
 
I am trying to avoid malware, virus, spyware, trojan, etc etc etc

Thanks in advance.
Most importantly, to be secure, you need to update to 10.9.5 and install the Security Updates (including Safari) which follow, and depend on, 10.9.5 being installed. 10.9.3 has actively exploited vulnerabilities (although they are unlikely to affect most home computers.)
Java is almost certainly not enabled in the browser anyway at this point.
 
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