What is ActiveX ?

Another mystery.

We copied some text and pasted it to a new e-mail in Outlook Express.

However, when we sent it out it gives the following message:

"Your current security settings prohibit running ActiveX controls on this page. As a result the page may not display correctly. "

When we go to tools - options - secutity we see no mention of that ActiveX junk.

So, what is it ? How do we eliminate the message ?

Using Windows XP Pro and Outkook Express.

 

jbarker--
The simplest definition of ActiveX is here
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/ActiveX.html
However, if you want to know more just run a search on www.google.com.
ActiveX is need to run several important programs such as Windows Update, Adobe Reader, Macromedia Flash, etc. ActiveX is also used at many websites to deliver ads. Most are harmless, if annoying.
Unfortunately ActiveX is also a crack in your PC's security.
So MS has provided you with the ability to have some control over allowing ActiveX to run in IE Tools|Internet Options|Security tab|Custom Level. (You were almost there. You just did not click the Custom Level button.)
The "correct" settings are open to some question.
One view is here
http://www.infinisource.com/techfiles/surf-safe.html
I certainly would Disable those marked as "not safe ".
If you put all the rest at Prompt, you will be asked whenever a page wants to run ActiveX. You then must make a choice based on the trust you have in the site. You may find you are driven nuts by the number of times you are asked. That is the message you are seeing. Most of the time you can just click "yes ", and you will see the site just fine.
However, if you are sending other people attachments that deliver the message, you might want to be sure that there is no harm to having them allow ActiveX to run your attachment.
One solution, when youi find a website that requires ActiveX to run (like Windows Update), is to put its URL into Trusted Sites. That, by default, allows all ActiveX controls on that website to run without any questions.
ActiveX is a long subject. Feel free to ask more questions.
One program that may help you (and your friends) avoid problems when you allow ActiveX to run is
SpywareBlaster
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
Trust me. It works, and you will never know it is on your PC when you install it. The only downside is that you must visit the site perhaps every ten days to get the latest updates to the reference files it uses to protect your PC.

 

You may have received the message in Outlook Express, as it may be set to run in the Restricted Zone of Internet Explorer.
This really is a good thing. There are some emails sent to folks that use other types of scripting to install viruses, and this is to protect you from that. These scripts will auto install attachments, no need for you to open them to infect you.
To check, look in OE at Tools\Options, click on Security tab.

 

" "" "The "correct" settings are open to some question.
One view is here
http://www.infinisource.com/techfiles/surf-safe.html
I certainly would Disable those marked as "not safe" "" ".

I have changed settings as per recommendations on this page. Now I can not log in on some forums. Which Active X part is responsible for this? Does anibody know? Thanks in advance.

 

No way to tell without knowing exactly what is happening.

A suggestion for you - the article dealt with internet, restricted, and trusted sites. They ignored the 4th option, Local Intranet.

Most home users don't have any dealings with that but for testing, you can set it up to prompt for all the behaviors and then add the sites you wonder about to that zone. You will get prompted with some detail about every thing the site is trying to do or trying to get you to do. See what they want and then make your own decision about the settings. You may want to move some of the suggested ones from disable to prompt in your Internet zone.

 

El Camino--

You have not told us what settings you have made. If you followed the suggestions in my last post (Disable for "not safe" and Prompt for the others), you should have access to pages of any reliable site. But you may be asked if you want ActiveX to run first. You just click "Yes ".
If, however, you have Disabled "Run ActiveX controls and plugins" that could stop you at some sites. You should test each of the settings by changing them one by one to Prompt and see which one is causing the problem.

 

I am only guessing here, but did you set cookies to disable? Most sites use cookies as part of the login process. This is not an ActiveX control.
An ActiveX control can be thought of basically as a way for a website to install and run programs on your computer. With lax settings for ActiveX, then means a website can do that they please with your computer.
Ever go to the Windows Update page? The first time you went, you were asked to install Windows Update Control. This is an ActiveX Control. Each time you go there afterwards, and you click on Search For Updates, you are allowing the Windows Update site to run a program on your computer and it interacts with the website.
There are other websites and third party websites with code on the page who are not so nice about this, and do it anyway without asking. Take a stroll through Security/Virus/Spyware and you will see the results of this.

 

Hi there:

All this is beyond my understanding - you need to know I am 80 years old. I am not, and never will be, a computer whiz !

So, it seems I been messing with a graphics box with text in it.
That won't copy the same as plain old text. Thus, we're getting the ActiveX message.

We will let it go and make no changes.

***********************************

However, we did copy our text via a different route.
We just printed that e-mail (graphic boxes with text).

We put the printout on the scanner.

Then used an OCR program to save as a Word document.

Now we got our text !

Revised it to suit and used it !

************************************

For those that were ok as a graphic - we just used a "Screen Capture" - cropped to suit and used them.


Thanks

We'll just leave that ActiveX well eneough alone !