ActiveX is a series of strategic object-oriented programming technologies and tools that were introduced by Microsoft in the late 1990s. The ActiveX name is not used very often today and most of the technologies that used ActiveX are considered defunct or have been renamed. However, some of the ActiveX technologies are still used widely. People like to view dynamic and exciting web sites and this is where ActiveX controls come in.

The main technology of ActiveX is the Component Object Model. This is used in a network alongside a directory and other additional supporting programming. In this situation it becomes the Distributed Component Object Model. When working with ActiveX technology, a developer will write self-sufficient programs that can be run anywhere on an ActiveX network. This is known as ActiveX control. ActiveX is Microsoft’s attempt to compete with Java technology that was introduced by Sun Microsystems and because of this an ActiveX control is very similar to a Java applet.

If your computer uses a Windows operating system, chances are you have noticed many different Windows files that have the OCX extension on them. OCX stands for Object Linking and Embedding control. Microsoft has changed to the term ActiveX for OCX. The main advantage to ActiveX, which uses components, is that a single component can be reused by many different applications on a personal computer. A Component Object Model can also be created using many different programming languages or development tools. This makes ActiveX available for use by many different programmers with little difficulty.

There are many practical uses for the ActiveX technology. For example a web developer may use ActiveX controls for scripting on web pages. ActiveX programs can also allow you to incorporate video and audio into business applications or enable universal access to data on a Windows network using several different versions of the Windows operating system.

There are also many utilities available to help you troubleshoot problems with ActiveX. ActiveX Manager will keep track of the ActiveX controls that you have installed on your computer. There are also websites available that can be navigated to. These will determine very quickly for you if your internet browser has been set up correctly to download, authenticate, install, and display ActiveX controls, and manipulate them with JavaScript.

ActiveX security is somewhat of a concern because it relies entirely on the judgment of the computer user. An ActiveX control will have a digital signature from the developer of the program and other parties that choose to endorse the program. Once the internet browser has verified the digital signature on an ActiveX control, it will provide you with a window that will give you information about who has signed the application and will ask you whether or not you want to trust the signer. Because of this, ActiveX relies entirely on the computer user to make the right decisions about what software should and should not be run on your computer. If a poor judgment is made, malicious software may be allowed to run on your computer system causing many headaches.