ActiveX warning screens

[Vincent Pozon]

Dear MVPs:

I keep getting this warning when I open a presentation I made:
"This application is about to intialize ActiveX controls that might be
unsafe."
And if I do click No, it says that "Some controls on this presentation can't
be activated. They might not be registered on this computer."
Clicking either way does not seem to have any obvious effect on the
presentation, but it is a bother and an unnecessary concern for someone
receiving my file.

The presentation was created on PowerPoint 2002 and I am now using
PowerPoint 2003.

Thanks,

Vincent Pozon

 

[Austin Myers]

Vincent,

Let's say I write an ActiveX control that formats the users hard drive and
then hide it in a PPT presentation. Then I send it out on CD. The warning
is there for a good reason. <g>

Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi Vincent,

Are there Active-X controls on your slides or in macros/forms in the
presentation?

After years of taking the heat every time somebody launches an attachment
(despite having been told umpteen times never to do so) and unleashes a
virus on the corporate net or worse, MS has tightened up security in
PowerPoint and other apps. IMO, the pendulum's swung too far and it's
overdone. My guess is that the lawyers had too much control over the final
decision. I doubt very much that the product managers wanted this, for
obvious reasons.

We need to find a balance between preventing the scenario that Austin
outlined and making it impossible to use PPT for presentations that include
useful technologies like Active-X and external files.

I'd suggest that you look for any of John Langhan's posts in this
newsgroup -- in all of them, you'll find a URL for making suggestions to MS
and some very good recommendations about how to post the suggestion for
maximum effect. It would be a very good idea to do this; undoubtedly plans
for the next version are underway.

--
Posted to news://msnews.microsoft.com
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PowerPoint FAQ - www.pptfaq.com
PPTools - www.pptools.com
===============================

 

[Vincent Pozon]

Steve and Austin:

I was just hoping for a way to disable the warning on files known to be
safe. Ah, but then, assuming absence of malice is no longer wise, I suppose.
Thanks anyway.

Vincent

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I was just hoping for a way to disable the warning on files known to be

safe. Ah, but then, assuming absence of malice is no longer wise, I

suppose.

And I was agreeing that we SHOULD be able to do exactly this when the files
are our own. ;-)

Please do send a request to MS about this. That's the best way to get it
fixed.