What is ActiveX? - Security Term

ActiveX is a series of computer program distribution and runtime technologies. Developed by Microsoft, ActiveX technologies have been incorporated into almost all of Microsoft's products released in recent years including Windows, Word, Excel, and Internet Explorer. ActiveX-enabled programs can embed features found in other enabled programs, and can incorporate new features within an ActiveX component. For instance, Internet Explorer can open an Excel spreadsheet via ActiveX object linking, and incorporate all the features of Excel within itself. Similarly web designers who wish to incorporate a features not implemented within any of Microsoft's products can write the features as an ActiveX component in any programming language that support it.