What is ActiveX?

Microsoft ActiveX is a bundle of technologies that allow different applications to exchange data and files over a network, the Internet in particular.

ActiveX is used by Web sites to provide interaction between a user and the web page being viewed. To run an ActiveX component, it has to be installed on your system (similar to a Java applet). The danger is that ActiveX establishes an interaction between remote applications and your computer just like the application is running on your own computer. That means ActiveX could be used in attacks on your computer. Therefore your browser should be configured to use ActiveX components only after you authorize it each time. That way you can run ActiveX components only from sites you know and trust.