PPRuNe Pop
14th Nov 2006, 16:19
My grandson was playing with a game in which it constantly asked for if he wanted ActiveX or not. He thought that since it asked at every mouse move it must be important and clicked on yes!
Question is do I/ME want ActiveX? Google inputs seems to suggest that NOBODY wants it! Surely it has some uses.
Opinions please.
There are options to have the system 'prompt' you whether to run the Active X content, Pop. IE Tools/Internet Options/Security/Custom Level.
Saab Dastard
14th Nov 2006, 17:39
ActiveX is OK as long as it is signed and comes from a trustworthy source.
If you allow "any" ActiveX from "any" site to run on a PC with admin rights you are going to get a shed load of grief!
SD
PPRuNe Pop
14th Nov 2006, 21:25
Thanks guys. I have closed the gaps in security and I don't think I want ActiveX - just the signed ones perhaps.
Gertrude the Wombat
14th Nov 2006, 22:14
ActiveX is a name for a technology, which has evolved via OLE (object linking and embedding, how you can double click on an Excel graph in a Word document) through COM (component object model, a binary interface which allows bits of software written in different languages to call each other) and DCOM (the same thing except that the bits of software don't all have to be on the same computer).
What you've most likely come across is an "ActiveX control", which is a COM server that you can download and run from within a web browser.
Whether you want to do this or not depends entirely on what the control is and what it does and whether you want what it does (if "what it does" is install viruses, for example, then you probably don't want it).
I'm not sure that following rules about guessing whether you want it from: whether it's signed; whether it's marked as safe for scripting; what certificate it comes with; etc is terribly helpful. It's more a matter of using your skill and judgement, really. So:
(1) if you go to Microsoft Update and it says you need an ActiveX control for this to work, it's probably telling the truth, and you probably do want it
(2) if you go to some spamvertised "free" porno web site that says you need an ActiveX control to view some dirty pictures, then it's probably lying, and the control probably does all sorts of nasty things, and you probably don't want it.
Er, the difficult cases are the ones between those extremes of course.