In this article I’ll Explain...

1. What ActiveX is and how it effects your computer
2. What a ActiveX error is
3. How to easily and safely fix a ActiveX error on your system

The Low down on what ActiveX is ?

ActiveX is a technology created by Microsoft for use on their Windows operating system. The main function of ActiveX is to allow multiple programs to access the same data simultaneously. ActiveX is part of a control process for what is called the OLE, which stands for Object Linking and Embedding. The OCX and OLE are responsible for things like scroll bars, text, graphic images, video and sound. Basically, they are the elements of your operating system that allow other programs to interact with Windows for such things as accessing your system fonts, interacting with your mouse, scrolling through text etc.

The creation of the ActiveX was an important development in the plug and play aspect of your computer. It allowed 3rd party developers create programs and software that could be universally used on the Windows system via a set protocol standard. This greatly reduced development time and made for much smoother program operation.

In past years, and versions of Windows, Microsoft referred to this process as OCX, but now calls it ActiveX controls. The OCX/ActiveX ( remember they are the same thing ) are part of what is called your Dynamic Linking Library - or dll for short.

The .dll library is where all the files that allow multiple programs to run at once on your Windows computer or stored. When Bill Gates and Microsoft originally created the first Windows programs, it was a way for users to have a much more visually friendly interface with the DOS operating system. When a single program would run in the Windows Environment such as a word processing application, it was not able to share resources with other programs, which meant that if you tried to run three or four programs at once, the computer became bogged down.

To solve the problem, the engineers at Microsoft came up with a way for multiple programs to share files and resources instead of each one being a single operation. To do this, they came up with a shared library of links that would allow a running program to access the same data and files at once, and the concept of the Dynamic Link Library ( .dll ) was born.

Understanding an ActiveX Error and How It Effects Your Computer

Now that you have an understanding of the function of the OCX control on your computer, it’s much easier to understand how an error in this application/script can really cause problems on your computer. Your screen freezes, programs stop working and error messages like this are common

Component 'Comdlg32.ocx' or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid

In some cases, this can be the result of a program over-writing or deleting the ActiveX/OCX .dll library files, or it can be caused during the process of a program being removed from your system. Other common causes of an ActiveX error can be from your Flash Movie Player or your Adobe PDF viewer conflicting with your Windows settings.

Fixing an ActiveX Error Problem...

The first step to fixing any ActiveX error is to use a program specifically designed to repair errors in your operating system, and in this case, your .dll / Active X library.

To do this, you will need to run a self diagnostic scan on your computer using a registry repair program. I prefer to use a program called Registry Patrol ( http://www.registrypatrol.com ) as it is stable and through the years I’ve learned that it is one of the few diagnostic programs I can trust it not to screw up an extremely testy and important part of your computer.

What we want to do is have the program run a check on your file structure and your registry key settings to look for problems in the code as well as any missing or corrupted files. This is a completely automated process and is simple enough for even the most novice computer user to undertake.

How to Use Registry Patrol to Fix an ActiveX Problem...

To get started, go to the Registry Patrol website and click on the green “ start registry scan now “ button. This will take you to their free download page where you can try out the program at no charge as well as run a full scan of your system to check for what is causing the ActiveX error.

Depending on how many files your computer has on it, the scan will take anywhere from a few minutes to as long as 20 minutes to complete. Once the program is finished, it will report back to you about any errors it has found that are causing your computer to act funky.

Registry Patrol will check the entire file structure of your computer including file integrity, application extension problems ( how your programs interact with Windows when they run ) shared files, short cut issues and a host of other file sections that the average person could care less about just as long as their computer runs properly.

Once the program is done, you can then have it fix any problems it has found by simply clicking “ Fix the Problems “

There is a high degree of chance that this will fix and eliminate that ActiveX issue you have been experiencing, and companies such as Registry Patrol offer guarantees with their programs to ensure that their program works or you don’t have to pay anything.

Editors Note

Asknerd is not an affiliate of Registry Patrol and receives no commission for referring users to their website.