what is active X control? What is pro & con about it?

Answer 1

Active X Control is basically a way for a website like Microsoft to extract certain information about your computer when you go to update your Windows OS.

Also there are some websites that install them to grab information that shouldn't be allowed namely sites that try to hack into your computer and place Popups, Virii and other things.

Some websites like the AMD/ATI website have a setup going to determine if your computer is up to scratch to run Windows Vista.

Basically in a few words it is like a little program running in the background along side Internet Explorer.

Answer 2

Pros: not sure since Firefox and Opera do just fine without it. Cons: ActiveX gives hackers almost complete control over your system; its almost as if they are sitting at the keyboard, they can do almost anything to Windows using ActiveX, as I understand it. If I am wrong I hope others will chime in and correct me.