Internet commentary: That old black magic[1]

摘要

I have at last had a glance at Windows XP Service Pack 2. I cannot say that I like what I have seen. It can lull users into a false sense of security, while they are little more safe than beforehand. Why should this be? Well, let us start on a Microsoft feature called ActiveX; if you seek a definition of what this is, the Windows glossary tells us, "A set of technologies that allows software components to interact with one another in a networked environment, regardless of the language in which the components were created". What does this mean? Let me narrowly rewrite this definition so that the potential danger it presents becomes more apparent. "A set of technologies that allows software components, such as viruses, Trojan Horses and other malware, to interact with others in an internet environment". In other words, without ActiveX operating in the background, a PC would be less liable to have many forms of pests installed.