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February 4th, 2008

So long ActiveX. Will I miss you?

Posted by Larry Dignan @ 2:35 pm

Categories: Exploit code, Microsoft, Spyware and Adware, Vulnerability research

Tags: CERT, Microsoft Internet Explorer, ActiveX, ActiveX/COM/COM+/DCOM, Web Browsers, Middleware, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Internet, Enterprise Software

I’m following the advice of US CERT and other security wonks and disabling my ActiveX controls in IE. The big question: Will I miss it?

The short answer is probably not since I mostly use Firefox. However, there are times when I’ll toggle over to IE for various reasons and have hit the ActiveX prompt. But given the latest Facebook, MySpace flaws and a conversation about ActiveX support I had earlier I’m going on an ActiveX diet. CERT has a point.

But I’m more interested in the hard core IE users. Has anyone else taken this step? And has it been painful to live without ActiveX?

You can disable your ActiveX controls by going into Internet Options and then unclicking the mumbo jumbo that Microsoft has on by default.

activex.png

And.

activex1.png

[ GALLERY: How to use Internet Explorer securely ]

Larry DignanLarry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

  • Talkback
  • Most Recent of 27 Talkback(s)
Don't you need it for update.microsoft.com?
I thought you needed ActiveX to check for and install updates at http://update.microsoft.com ...

I'm a Mac OS X/Linux user myself which... (Read the rest)
Posted by: John Musbach Posted on: 02/07/08 You are currently: a Guest | | Terms of Use
Done. Thanks Larry!  D. T. Schmitz | 02/04/08
Update or ActiveX  rkrkr | 02/04/08
I'm running SP3 so there are no updates unless you are a tester  D. T. Schmitz | 02/04/08
True Irony.  joe.smetona@... | 02/05/08
Your screenshots are inaccurate  forrestgump2000@... | 02/04/08
Yes you will miss it, but users need to force the change  oldsysprog | 02/05/08
SO  Techref6060 | 02/05/08
Switched to Firefox with add-ons  terry flores | 02/05/08
RE: So long ActiveX. Will I miss you?  lekoerber | 02/05/08
Windows Updates et al  aussiedawg | 02/05/08
what about bank safety, and windows update patches?  Narr vi | 02/05/08
Been activex free  Linux User 147560 | 02/05/08
You're so cool  tikigawd | 02/05/08
Panda Security Newsletters.  joe.smetona@... | 02/05/08
RE: So long ActiveX. Will I miss you?  _JohnH | 02/05/08
Microsoft: "do as i say, not as i do"  Smarty_Pantz | 02/05/08
Let's be fair, MS didn't write the problematic code  BagEmk | 02/05/08
agree  killerbunny | 02/05/08
Active-X at work.  joe.smetona@... | 02/05/08
Mwa-hahahahahahahaaa... Bonsai-Buddy!  Grayson Peddie | 02/05/08
I'll have to give it a try.  joe.smetona@... | 02/05/08
If you got XP, just download..  JCitizen | 02/05/08
Can we get MS to support netscape plugin API?  LittleGuy | 02/05/08
RE: So long ActiveX. Will I miss you?  wgiles@... | 02/05/08
My customers insist in using it so;  JCitizen | 02/05/08
have to use it  impala_sc | 02/06/08
Don't you need it for update.microsoft.com?  John Musbach | 02/07/08

What do you think?

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