Most of us happily use the Internet to check email, surf to out favorite web sites, chat with friends, etc. All the while, we’re blissfully unaware of the underlying technologies that make all of this possible. We’re unaware, that is, until something breaks down and now we’re forced to see disconcerting error messages. One such technology is ActiveX, and if you use your PC for any length of time, it’s not so uncommon to see errors related to ActiveX. What causes these, and more importantly, how do you fix them?

ActiveX Background

Microsoft incorporated ActiveX controls into their popular Internet Explorer browsers to facilitate applet-like functionality. Applet simply means that one program is running within the context of another program, in this case, your web browser. A very common example of an ActiveX control would be a browser plug-in.

As an aside, while ActiveX controls are not inherently unsafe, much attention has been paid to them due to the misuse of these controls by hackers to create malicious threats like malware, viruses and spyware. All in all, while there is the potential for misuse, ActiveX is a useful technology that’s greatly added to what you can do on the web.

ActiveX and CLASSID

Every time a new ActiveX control is loaded its Class ID (unique identifier) is stored in the CLASSID section of the Windows registry. This is how your PC keeps tract of which ActiveX controls are installed, and which ones need to be downloaded. Again, usually this all happens in the background and you don’t need to know much about it. The important tidbit here is that ActiveX information is stored in the Windows registry. In case you’re unfamiliar with the registry, it’s the central configuration database used by Windows and the software on your PC. Now that we have this little bit of framework, let’s move to the important topic – how to fix ActiveX errors on your PC.

Fixing ActiveX Errors

ActiveX errors may be caused by a number of problems, but a very common and often overlooked source is the Windows registry. So, how can you fix them?

Well, more than likely, all that is required is a registry cleaning. There are many good programs available, our favorite is RegCure. Once you download the cleaner, simply run a scan. The scan will look for any abnormalities in your registry – things like corrupted data and broken registry links. Usually all it will take is one scan to fix most ActiveX errors. The benefits don’t stop there. In addition to fixing any registry errors, the scan will look for and remove unneeded entries in your registry. Your registry grows in size and you install software. Many times simply removing the program, will not remove all of the program’s entries in your registry. Getting rid of unneeded entries will greatly increase the speed and performance of your PC.

Download RegCure and fix ActiveX errors.