What are Active X Controls and how are they used?

Answer 1

Because the HTML language that most web sites are written in is old (by PC standard - 1960's) and very limited (from before the days when computers had windows - just DOS - so no windows like commonads) there are a lot things that HTML can not do.

ActiveX is an addon to HTML that allows it to do fancier, window based things. An activeX application is actual a small program downloaded onto your computer when you access the web site. Because that program could be a virus or a trojan as easily as something helpful, most browser ask for permission before allowing them to install.

That is why you sometimes have to click on the bar at the top to allow an activeX item to run. It is another layer of protection for your PC.

Answer 2

ActiveX

In 1996, Microsoft renamed the OLE 2.0 technology to ActiveX. This version of OLE is commonly used by Web designers to embed multimedia files in Web pages.

In the wake of losing a patent lawsuit with Eolas, Microsoft announced on December 2, 2005, "After a forthcoming update, Microsoft Internet Explorer users will not be able to directly interact with Microsoft ActiveX controls loaded by the APPLET, EMBED, or OBJECT elements."[1] Functionally, this means that Internet Explorer users must "activate" objects such as Flash navigation bars and QuickTime movies before they can interact with them. The objects still display, but the user cannot do anything with them (for example, pause a playing movie) until they activate them. When users move their cursors over such an object a pop-up window directs them to "Click to activate and use this control." If they then click on the object, they may subsequently use it in normal fashion.