ActiveX is a framework for defining reusable software components in a programming language

independent way. Software applications can then be composed from one or more of these
components in order to provide their functionality.[1]

It was introduced in 1996 by Microsoft as a development of its Component Object Model

(COM) and Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technologies and is commonly used in its
Windows operating system, although the technology itself is not tied to it.

Many Microsoft Windows applications — including many of those from Microsoft itself, such as
Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visual Studio, and Windows Media Player — use
ActiveX controls to build their feature-set and also encapsulate their own functionality as
ActiveX controls which can then be embedded into other applications. Internet Explorer also
allows embedding ActiveX controls onto web pages.

ActiveX controls
ActiveX controls — small program building blocks — can serve to create distributed
applications that work over the Internet through web browsers. Examples include customized
applications for gathering data, viewing certain kinds of files, and displaying animation.

One can compare ActiveX controls in some sense to Java applets: programmers designed both of
these mechanisms so that web browsers could download and execute them. However, they also
differ:

 Java applets can run on nearly any platform, while ActiveX components officially
operate only with Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser and the Microsoft Windows
operating system.[2]Malware, such as computer viruses and spyware, can be accidentally
installed from malicious websites using ActiveX controls (drive-by downloads).

Programmers can write ActiveX controls in any language that supports COM component
development, including the following languages/environments:

 C++ either directly or with the help of libraries such as ATL or MFC[3]
 Borland Delphi
 Visual Basic

Common examples of ActiveX controls include command buttons, list boxes, dialog boxes, and
the Internet Explorer browser.[c

The Microsoft Foundation Class Library (also Microsoft Foundation Classes or MFC) is a library that
wraps portions of the Windows API in C++ classes, including functionality that enables them to use a
default application framework. Classes are defined for many of the handle-managed Windows objects
and also for predefined windows and common controls.