Error "JRE not installed/Java is disabled." after recent Firefox update

[rg4w]

Setup:
Ubuntu 14.04 (64-bit)
Firefox 52.0 (32-bit)

I have a client that uses Juniper Connect for their VPN, and after much trial-and-error a couple years ago I finally got it set up well with the icedtea plugin in a 32-bit version of Firefox. It's been working reliably for a long time, but -

Last time I successfully used Juniper Connect to log into the VPN was about a week ago, and IIRC since then Ubuntu 14.04 has updated Firefox. I'm not sure about that update or if that's even the source of the problem, all I know is that when I go to the URL where icedtea had successfully run Java before I now get:

"JRE not installed/Java is disabled."

Nothing Java-related appears in my Firefox Plugins settings, not even Iced Tea.

Any clues as to how I might resolve this?

Thanks in advance -

[halogen2]

Yes, the Firefox update is the source of the problem. There are a few possibilities -

1) Downgrade Firefox to version 51 or the latest 45 ESR

2) Switch over to Firefox 52 ESR and enable loading plugins other than Flash -
about:config > set plugin.load_flash_only to false

3) Use another browser that still supports plugins other than Flash, such as SeaMonkey or Pale Moon.

[Geoffrey_Arndt]

Or try the "Chromiium" browser. FF is going thru a crazy lot of changes between now and end of the year.

[rg4w]

Thanks to both of you for the quick replies. Halogen2, I'd not heard of Firefox ESR before but tried it and it was a quick and easy solution - thank you! Marking "solved"....

[halogen2]

You're welcome!

Oh, and you'll need to make sure Firefox ESR does not update to any version > 52.x, if it does you'll be back to where you started.

[rg4w]

...you'll need to make sure Firefox ESR does not update to any version > 52.x, if it does you'll be back to where you started.

Good thought. I'll keep an eye on that. Thanks!