Consider this scenario: A user surfing the Internet is prompted to install an ActiveX control. If a Web site can't work properly without ActiveX controls -- and a lot of sites won't -- the user might be tempted to install the controls without really knowing the consequences. You can see why the ActiveX technology as a whole is often criticized; it poses an inherent risk to computers.

You can use Mozilla's Firefox browser to avoid these risks, but of course the problem is that some sites (such as Microsoft.com) won't work properly if you don't use Internet Explorer. For those of you who are using IE and are dealing with ActiveX controls, you need to make sure to get rid of outdated ActiveX controls -- and this article will show you how to do just that.

Getting Started
A lot of people, including myself, use Secunia's online software inspector to inspect their operating systems and software for insecure versions and missing security updates. Although you may not see older versions of Adobe Flash Player ActiveX controls in Add/Remove Programs, Secunia's inspector can and will alert you to any risk. You can get rid of the older versions by following this procedure:

Find out where the Flash Player ActiveX control is installed. If you use Secunia's inspector, it will tell you exactly where the file is, as shown in Figure 1.

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The file is called flash.ocx if you're using Flash Player version 6 or later. For version 5 or earlier, it's called swflash.ocx. Here are the default locations for the file:

• C:\Windows\System\Macromed\Flash for Windows 95, 98 and WinME
• C:\WinNT\System32\Macromed\Flash for Windows NT and 2000
• C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash for Windows XP and Vista

Sometimes you'll see the file name as something like flash9b.ocx, so you might want to look for all files that end with that .ocx extension. For example, you may find a file located at C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\Macromed\Flash\Flash9b.ocx.

Keep in mind that there are other locations that these players are installed. For example, Dreamweaver installs it in the same place where Dreamweaver itself is installed (such as Dreamweaver\Configuration\Plugins\NPSWF32.dll).

Also remember that a lot of vendors want to install software on your computer without your knowledge, or they'll bundle useful products with other "junk" software that then gets installed on the sly. Both Apple and Adobe are notorious for such "junk" software installations. For example, you may also find a version installed with Adobe AIR in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe AIR\Versions\1.0\NPSWF32.dll. Why? Because Adobe bundles Adobe AIR with Acrobat Reader. Luckily, Secunia's report will give you all the details and information you need.

Now, here's the step-by-step procedure for getting rid of the old versions of Flash Player ActiveX controls.

Step 1
Locate the Flash Player version that you want to remove. Once you've located the file, use regsvr32 to unregister the ActiveX control. For example, to remove Flash9b.ocx, go to Start, Run and type regsvr32 "C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\Macromed\Flash\Flash9b.ocx" /u. You should see the message shown in Figure 2.

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If there are other versions you want to remove, do the same for those. Remember to use quotes if there's a space in the file path. For example, to unregister the DLL installed by Adobe AIR, type regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe AIR\Versions\1.0\NPSWF32.dll" /u.

Step 2
After the ActiveX has been successfully unregistered, locate the .ocx file and delete it.

Step 3
Locate the .inf file associated with the Macromedia Flash Player ActiveX control (swflash.inf) and delete it. In the Adobe AIR example I gave in Step 1, I would delete the entire folder 1.0 under Versions.

Step 4
Restart the computer.

Once you've successfully removed the old versions, you should run Secunia's inspector again to verify the removal, as shown in Figure 3.

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Rooting out those hidden ActiveX controls can be difficult, but it's important to find and update (or delete) them to minimize the security risks to your computer.