ActiveX

A Microsoft technology often used in the design of online marketing communications for web pages and advertising messages.

Used for developing reusable object oriented software components. ActiveX is an alternate name for OLE automation, not a separate technology. While the term automation refers to the overall technology, ActiveX refers to the objects that can be created and manipulated using automation. Due to Internet Explorer's and Visual Basic's popularity in the late 1990s, many people incorrectly assume that all of ActiveX is related to ActiveX controls. An ActiveX control is a special type of ActiveX object that is designed to be used similar to a plugin. The most common use of ActiveX controls is to build plugins for Internet Explorer.

The popular Adobe Flash is packaged as an ActiveX control for Internet Explorer.