Active X

[redvette]

Hi Gang

Through the years I have learned a great deal about the problems and such with these so called miracle machines we call computers, from all the good and knowledgeable people here on these PCmech forums. For which I am ever grateful.

Now some thing that has had me bugged for a while, confused you might say. This "active X controls. It seems to me that it is very nec. in order for certain programs to work right. But at the same time I have read do not activate Active X things time and time again. So can some one explain to me what active X controls are and what they do and are they that nec. and if so why do they seem to cause so many problems. A lot of computer problem fixers, (not PCmech) the first question out of their mouths is do you run Active X, if you are having problems.

I am using IE 7 beta, AT&T/Yahoo, and are having a lot of freeze ups, both my wife and I, and we are using the same set ups, pretty close. So what is the first thing they say is get rid of all active x, and see if that stops it. We thought for a long time it was the Yahoo that was causing it, but lately after reading a lot about this we are shifting the blame on IE 7 Is there some thing that does what Active X does, but don't cause problems that a person can use.? Why when you download Active X do you get all sorts of warnings about doing that.?

Thanx and take care........Gunny

[Cricket]

ActiveX: the good, the bad and the ugly

The Dangers of ActiveX

Can you explain how ActiveX might infect (and wreak havoc) on my organization's network? What is the best way to protect against malicious ActiveX?

Dangers of ActiveX and How to Disable It

Cricket

[redvette]

Hi Cricket

Some great articles there, not finished reading them all yet, but I will. It straightens out some of the confusion about this. I was not wrong then in my thinking that some of it can be good and some bad. Too bad like it said there always has to be a few that want to ruin it for others. Always a handful that their minds work in the direction of causing innocent people problems, they are not satisfied with just living a good, non problematic life. Too bad.

Thanx for the time and effort..........Gunny

[Petef56]

Due to the dangers of Active-X, I hiighly recommend using SpyBot's Immunize feature which
protects Internet Explorer from many known bad websites. Spybot's Immunize feature does
various things, but the most basic thing it does is load IE with thousands of definitions
of known dangerous websites. If you happen to land on one of those bad sites, it tightens
up the security settings of IE which disables Axtive-X while you are on that site.

More info on Spybot's Immunize feature...

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SPYBOT S&D'S IMMUNIZE FEATURE
http://www.htworkshop.com/freeinfo_a...t_immunize.htm

---pete---

[redvette]

Hi Pete

Ya I will have to say that Spybot is a good program, I use it all the time. I changed a few things with this Active X to see if it helps this freeze up thing.

Thanx........Gunny

[Petef56]

Originally Posted by redvette Hi Pete Ya I will have to say that Spybot is a good program, I use it all the time. I changed a few things with this Active X to see if it helps this freeze up thing. Thanx........Gunny

As a test, I would install another browser such as Firefox which does not have
Active-X and see if the PC still freezes up. ---pete---

[systempat]

I strongly prefer FireFox over IE6 for several reasons. The Activex security isssues being one of the main ones. I'd recommend downloading it and installing and giving it a testdrive. I won't even go to IE7 as I did not like it when using another PC. I have it blocked on my Windows Update list.

Your freeze-ups, if they are from software, are probably from spyware or other nasty stuff that's already installed. You may want to get and run spyware and anti-virus tools. Check out the forum areas for those issues.