title: How to best set the path to java in windows
body: <p>I'm curious about the difference that exists between the paths that I see in the windows environment to java. 
  If I do a command <code>where java</code> I can see </p>
  
  <pre><code>C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Oracle\Java\javapath\java.exe
  C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath\java.exe
  C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_21\bin\java.exe
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And I have seen that the first one, the javapath, gets updated with the latest java sdk I have installed. However, most of what you google tells you should set the environment variable PATH to the latest, the one with the jdk in the path. 
  So what is the best, how do they work. For example, what's best for Xamarin or Android development?</p>
  
  <p>Hopefully someone has some insight, I'd appreciate comments on this.
  Now I know, (everyone does) that to change the path to java you have to set the JAVA_HOME variable. I did this after posting this, it's hard to recall everything you read at any given moment! 
  Still what's the purpose of the other paths, and why does updating java jre automatically sets the java version while downloading an sdk requires a manual update?</p>