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"ActiveX control" is a term used to denote reusable software components that are based on Microsoft Component Object Model (COM). ActiveX controls provide encapsulated reusable functionality to programs and they are typically but not always visual in nature. Software component representations: above the representation used in UML, below the representation commonly used by Microsofts COM objects. ... Component Object Model (COM) is a platform for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. ...

For example, an ActiveX control might implement spreadsheet functionality similar to Microsoft Excel, which would be visual in nature, but it also might implement functionality to upload or download files from an FTP site, which is not visual in nature unless it incorporates some sort of download progress display or similar. Microsoft Excel (full name Microsoft Office Excel) is a spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. It features calculation and graphing tools which, along with aggressive marketing, have made Excel one of the most popular microcomputer applications to date. ...

A Brief Description

ActiveX is a software module that emerged from Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) and Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technologies. In 1996, Microsoft took OLE 2.0 and renamed it ActiveX. While the primary role of OLE is to manage documents that utilize multi-media, it also is capable of transferring data between applications. Embedding information is common practice for web designers and these components are frequently found on Internet sites especially those rich in multi-media content. Web pages utilizing ActiveX function in a similar fashion to server-based applications and behave like standard executable programs. Conceptually, they are like Java applets and share similar implementation characteristics.

ActiveX components can easily blend in and can offer a variety of functionality to programs. They can be used by several applications on a computer or shared on a network. While these components can be utilized for common operating tasks by Macintosh and Microsoft systems, they are most often downloaded and used by web pages for animation displays, for programmatic tasks, or to augment UI functions so as to include items such as spreadsheets, toolbars and similar components.

With today's standards and common practices, most web browser configurations notify and prompt the user prior to the download of an ActiveX control. This can be a difficult choice if there is no guarantee or indication as to the function of the component and the requirement of the web page. Once the user accepts and the component is downloaded, considerable latitude is achieved - the ActiveX control now has the same privileges as the user. This poses security risks that including reading from, and writing to, the registry; manipulation of the user's local file system; and alteration of security rights.

While there are legitimate uses that provide visual display of web content or can functionally enhance the system, there are ActiveX components designed in such a way as to bring about significant malicious and damaging affects. ActiveX technology has been a handy an efficient vehicle for spyware/adware distribution, as well as activation and even propagation of malware. Programmers can embed spyware, Trojan horses, and virus infections to create rogue ActiveX technology.

A typical scenario would involve surfing to a site to play a game online. When coming to a site, the user is presented with a message stating that a download is required. In many instances, an ActiveX installation is required. In some cases, this is accompanied by a security warning dialog and possibly even a privacy policy, and typically, the expected outcome results. However, there are other outcomes where the results are not expected and certainly are undesirable. Some installations of Active X lead to a dialog prompt stating access to a web site is required. After enabling the connection, installations are initiated and icons are generated in the system tray. Now, the user begins to get pop-up and pop-under advertisements that generate repeatedly and cannot be turned off without removal of the unwanted software and distributed elements. By displaying traffic logs, we could see that certain http connections to the makers of adware exist and are actually proliferating. Removal is not straight-forward as standard uninstall procedures fail to remove the problem.

Safety and security

The security concerns associated with ActiveX control is mainly due to the fact that ActiveX controls can do almost anything that a normal application can. Therefore, both malware and useful form ActiveX controls exists; thus the threat level of an ActiveX control can be associated with how trusted its author is.

However, there is one famous case of ActiveX controls safety concern: Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer has the ability to run ActiveX controls within a web page. This is both blessing and pain. Windows Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer, abbreviated MSIE), commonly abbreviated to IE, is a series of proprietary graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems starting in 1995. ...

ActiveX controls like Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash Player, Apple QuickTime Player, Microsoft Windows Media Player, Real Networks RealPlayer, and Sun Java Virtual Machine are routinely used by Internet surfers every hour of a day all across the globe.

However, opening a web page that contains a harmful ActiveX control, and then allowing Internet Explorer to run that harmful control, would be same as running a malware on the computer. Fortunately, Internet Explorer 6 and Windows Vista has taken actions to reduce such risks. Windows Vista is a line of graphical operating systems used on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, and media centers. ...

Writing ActiveX controls

ActiveX controls are simply COM objects, so they can be written using: Component Object Model (COM) is a platform for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. ...

• Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) – Generally not recommended, due to the size of the MFC DLLs required
• Active Template Library (ATL) – The commonly accepted simplest way
• Languages that support COM, like plain C/C++ or even assembler – Considered to be the most difficult since lots of support code must be written
• Languages that provide special support for writing controls e.g. Visual Basic

Microsoft Foundation Classes, or MFC, is a Microsoft library that wraps portions of the Windows API in C++ classes, forming an application framework. ... Dynamic-link library (also written without the hyphen), or DLL, is Microsofts implementation of the shared library concept in the Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems. ... The Active Template Library (ATL) is a set of template-based C++ classes that simplify the programming of Component Object Model (COM) objects. ... This article is about the Visual Basic language shipping with Microsoft Visual Studio 6. ...

See also

• ActiveX
• Internet Explorer

ActiveX is Microsoft technology used for developing reusable object oriented software components. ... Windows Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer, abbreviated MSIE), commonly abbreviated to IE, is a series of proprietary graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems starting in 1995. ...

External links

• Ryan Naraine, "Microsoft Bows to Eolas, Revamps IE's Multimedia Handling", December 2, 2005.
• "How to stop an ActiveX control from running in Internet Explorer"

is the 336th day of the year (337th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

About the "click to activate" ActiveX issue

• "Activating ActiveX Controls" — Microsoft's workaround for the ActiveX issue.
• "Activate ActiveX" — an unofficial workaround for the ActiveX issue.