Activex Control

What Does Activex Control Mean?

An ActiveX control is a small program that is used to share information between applications. An ActiveX control can enhance Internet browsing experience by allowing animation and is often compared to Java applets. Microsoft developed the concept in the mid 1990s.

Techopedia Explains Activex Control

ActiveX is (was) an outgrowth of two other Microsoft technologies, object linking and embedding and the component object model. ActiveX controls refer to a specific way of implementing those technologies.

A limitation of the ActiveX control is that it can only run under Windows. ActiveX controls can also expose a system to viruses and malware because they create an opening that can allow these malicious programs to be installed.

Related Reading

Margaret Rouse

Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

All Articles by Margaret Rouse