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Activate

1. to choose a window in which you want to type. This is done by mov- ing the mouse pointer into the window and clicking one button. In some

11 ActiveX

operating systems you must click on the window’s title bar. See WINDOW.

2. to start a piece of software by double-clicking on its name or icon.

See CLICK; ICON.

3. to make a software product usable by informing the manufacturer that it has been installed and obtaining an activation code. This can be done on line or by making a telephone call. See REGISTRATION(definition 1).

active color the color currently selected (in a painting or drawing pro- gram). Whatever tool is being used will paint or draw in the active color.

Active Desktop in Windows, the ability to use a WEB PAGE as the desktop, i.e., the screen itself, not just as one of the programs running on it. This makes it easy to display a web page that is constantly updated, such as weather or stock price information, without having to start and run a BROWSER. See also DESKTOP; WORLD WIDE WEB.
active matrix a type of liquid crystal display (LCD) that produces higher contrast than earlier passive-matrix displays by incorporating transistors into the LCD matrix.
active window the window currently in use, the one in which the user is typing, drawing, or making menu choices (see Figure 2). There can only be one active window at a time. See WINDOW; ACTIVATE.

FIGURE 2. Active window

ActiveX a marketing name used by Microsoft for many types of software components implemented in the COM (Component Object Model) architecture (see COM).
An ActiveX control is a small piece of software designed to be used as part of a larger one. Some ActiveX controls are simply object libraries or subroutine libraries used by programmers—a more sophisticated kind of DLL. Others work more like Java applets (see APPLET).
At one time it was common to include ActiveX controls in web pages, as programs to be executed on the client computer, but because of secu- rity risks, many web browsers no longer accept them.