To ensure the best SciFinder experience, use the latest recommended Web browser technology. (Updated  February 4, 2013)

OS/Browser Recommendations

• Windows XP Professional, Vista: Firefox 10 (ESR), Firefox 14 and above; Internet Explorer 7 and 8; Internet Explorer v9.0 (Vista)
• Windows 7: Firefox 10 (ESR), Firefox 14 and above; Internet Explorer v8 and above
• Windows 8: Firefox 15 and above; Internet Explorer 10
• Mac OS 10.5 and 10.6: Firefox 10 (ESR), Firefox 14 and above; Safari 5.0 and 5.1
• Mac OS 10.7: Firefox 10 (ESR), Firefox 14  and above; Safari 5.1 and  Safari 6
• Mac OS 10.8: Safari 6: Firefox 10 (ESR), Firefox 14 and above

Internet Explorer 6 is not recommended due to lack of support for newer Web standards. Users of Internet Explorer 6 will experience performance issues with the Web version of SciFinder.

Some testing has been done with Chrome on all of the above operating systems.

Structure drawing requires a Java plug-in. A 64-bit version of Java is required for 64-bit browsers.

For all supported operating systems and browsers use Java version 1.6.0_32 or later, or 1.7 and later.

Visit the Java test page to see if Java is working on your computer.

Information about downloading and installing Java is available at the www.java.com download page.

Note: Although installing and using the latest version of Java seems to have resolved issues affecting the structure editor in SciFinder, CAS is now offering a downloadable, stand-alone structure editor that can be used in conjunction with SciFinder.

Special Notes for customers using SciFinder with Mac OS X:

• 2/02/13 – Apple releases Update 12 for Java 6 restoring CASDraw functionality for 10.6 customers. It can be downloaded from Apple’s website: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1573
• 2/01/13 – Oracle releases Update 13 for Java 7 restoring CASDraw functionality for 10.7 and 10.8 customers.  The update can be downloaded from Oracle’s Java website: http://java.com
• 1/31/13 – Apple blocks Java via their XProtect list for Mac 10.6 (Snow Leopard), 10.7 (Lion) and 10.8 (Mountain Lion) customers
• 1/15/13 - A recent Java vulnerability known as the Zero day threat caused Apple to disable Java over the weekend of 01/12/13. After this action by Apple, Mozilla also decided to disable Java plug-ins within the latest versions of the Firefox browser.  As a result of these two actions, SciFinder customers with Safari and/or Firefox were blocked from using structure drawing.  Customers would have seen “A Java Plug-in is required” and/or a time-out when trying to launch structure drawing.
  
  Oracle has released a security update, Java 7 Update 11, which addresses the problem. The update can be downloaded from Oracle’s Java website: http://java.com.
   
  After the installation is complete you can use the same website to verify the installation by clicking the link, “Do I have Java?” and then clicking the button, “Verify Java version”.
  
  Once the update is installed the SciFinder Structure Drawing applet will work as expected. If you have any questions, please contact the CAS Customer Center.
  
  
• Re-enabling Structure Drawing after Apple Java Update 2012-006 1.0 (10/12) - This is primarily for users of Mac OS X 10.7 and 10.8. An October 2012 Apple update removed Java from those systems. If you installed that update or have a Mac manufactured after October 2012 please refer to this document.
•  Installing Java and Enabling Java Applets in Mac OS X (8/12) - This document is primarily for users of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) who were affected by Apple's April 2012 update where Java applets could be disabled if the Java Web plug-in detected that applets had not been run for an extended period.

Check with your organization's Site Administrator, Key Contact or help desk before changing any settings to conform to these requirements.

• SSL (https) connection on port 443 to scifinder.cas.org.

• http connection on port 80 to chemport.cas.org for full-text linking

• JavaScript, Java and cookies must be enabled.
  
  
• Add https://scifinder.cas.org to your browser’s "Trusted Sites" and Pop-up blocker Exceptions lists.
  
  
• A PDF reader is required for printing SciFinder answers and other information. Adobe Reader can be used with Mac or Windows computers. Preview is a free viewer provided with Mac OS X.
  
  
• Appropriate ActiveX and plug-in permissions are required for Internet Explorer. 

Hardware and Software

These configurations should result in good performance.

Windows-Based PCs:

CPU: 3GHz Core Duo
RAM: 2GB RAM
OS: Windows XP SP2
Browser: Firefox 10 or higher, IE7 or higher
Java Plug-in: Java 6 Update 32.

Apple Mac OS X:

CPU: 2.66GHz Dual Core Xeon
RAM: 2GB RAM
OS: OS 10.6x
Browser: Firefox 10 or higher, Safari 5.x or higher
Java Plug-in: JRE 1.6.0_32