ActiveX is a technology produced by Microsoft which allows software components to be downloaded and installed on individual computers, primarily from the web browser. Unlike other browser technologies such as java, ActiveX can write to the hard-drive. Microsoft uses a trust-based digital certificate system for ActiveX providing some comfort to users about the integrity of the components. Internet Explorer also provides user settings for either accepting, rejecting or prompting for action when an ActiveX component is encountered on the web.

For more information about ActiveX , please refer to the Microsoft documentation and this information page.