You can then choose an action by clicking on the bar. If you Enable this setting, you won’t see the yellow bar when an ActiveX control needs to be installed. When this bar is activated, the file or control will automatically be prevented from downloading and the bar will let you know that. This bar may appear during a file download or when a site is attempting to install an ActiveX control. Beginning In Internet Explorer for Windows XP SP2, Microsoft introduced the “Information Bar” which is a little yellow strip that appears just under the top frame of the content window. While it may seem counter-intuitive, this setting actually causes a type of prompt. provide a drop-down box or calendar control on a web page). A scriptlet uses a programming language as opposed to markup to make the web page more interactive (e.g. Scriptlets technically aren’t ActiveX controls and so would, I guess, fall under the “plug-ins” section of the heading (though they technically aren’t those either). However some older sites and some developers (not necessarily older developers) still use scriptlets and so Internet Explorer 7 needs to be able to handle them. Unless you’re having problems with specific web pages, this setting should be fine for most users. This setting refers to a technology support for which was phased out in Internet Explorer 5. The default setting for this is Disabled. With this setting set to Disabled, all ActiveX controls that do not meet one of the above conditions will be disabled until the user explicitly grants the control permission to run. These controls will appear on a pre-approved list.Ĭontrols which were used in IE before upgrading to IE7 or IE8.Ĭontrols which the user downloads through IE7 or IE8 will be automatically enabled during the download and install process. Microsoft calls this setting, “ActiveX Opt-In.” Essentially, it forces IE to prompt the user before running an ActiveX control that does not satisfy one of the following conditions:Ĭontrols that are commonly used and that were designed with security scrutiny will not be disabled. The default value for this setting is Disable and for most users, this setting is adequate. Allow Previously Unused ActiveX Controls Run without a Prompt If you have recently upgraded Internet Explorer, be sure you know how to configure security settings properly to fix security problems with Internet Explorer 8. Many of the options in the ActiveX controls and plug-ins section are variations on a theme but each is important. It is possible to tweak Internet Explorer’s handling of ActiveX controls and it is to that topic that we now turn. Because of this, Microsoft continues to support ActiveX controls and has built security measures into Internet Explorer to help ensure they’re used safely and effectively. ActiveX controls still are used widely and do offer a great deal of programming power for developers. While major improvements in both Windows and Internet Explorer have greatly mitigated the threat ActiveX controls were used to exploit, the basic operation of the controls remains the same. In the days before Microsoft implemented security zones in both Internet Explorer and Windows, ActiveX controls could be run with full access to the computer including the file system. Virus writers leveraged this situation to exploit the computer by using ActiveX controls to do everything from deleting files to sending unintended emails to everyone in a user’s address book. For an example of how this was done, see this 1999 article by CNN. Let’s begin by reviewing what an ActiveX controls are and why Microsoft would want to provide users with a greater level of control over how Internet Explorer handles them.įundamentally, an ActiveX control is a small compiled (not plain-text markup like a web page) application that can be downloaded to your computer from a web page to typically do a very specific task. In this article I want to review ActiveX controls and plug-ins. NET Framework settings of the custom security settings in Internet Explorer 7.
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