Chapter 12. Enhancing Page Content with Managed ActiveX Controls

ActiveX controls are double-edged swords stabbed through the heart of almost every page loaded in IE. Flash, QuickTime, Windows Media Player, the financial application your company uses ... these controls are powerful, scary, and inescapable. Solidly built controls bring amazing functionality enhancement to pages; less solid controls can act as open wounds inviting infection. IE has addressed many of the security issues over the years while carefully balancing the need to ensure this powerful extension stays powerful. It's worked so far—ActiveX controls are still a great way to enhance pages and bridge the gap between desktop applications and the Web.

Most ActiveX controls are written ...

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