W**** IE Demon

[Mr Larrington]

Every so often, Interweb Exploder 6 pops up a doofer at the top of the screen, telling me that "To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has restricted this file from showing active content that could access your computer"

According to IE's help wossname "This message appears when a Web page on your computer tries to run a script or ActiveX control. Internet Explorer blocks this activity so that you can see how the Web page functions without the script or ActiveX control; often, you will be able to view or use the Web page without using the active content and potentially encountering a security risk. Because scripts and ActiveX controls are a potential hazard to your computer, you should be certain that you trust the publisher of the script or ActiveX control before you decide to give it access to your computer."

However, the page in question is already on my computer (albeit on a USB sticky-thing) and contains no ActiveX, scripts or Tory party propaganda, merely old-fangled HTML.  It doesn't produce this message with the version of said page¹ out there on teh Intarwebs, and Firefox hasn't said a peep about it.

Can any member of Thee Panel hazard a guess as to WTF it's talking about?

1 - it's a sort of online Walsall

[Greenbank]

Tools -> Internet Options -> Security

If you look in the Custom Level settings there's a whole section for ActiveX. Try disabling each of these (for all 4 "web content zones".)

It may be thinking that a local file is not part of the Local Intranet or Trusted sites and therefore applies silly rules to it. Are you sure the plain local HTML file doesn't have some embedded Javascript in it? Windows is lax with its terminology and may include Javascript in this description.

Option b: Install Firefox Portable on said USB stick.

[Mr Larrington]

Deffo no Javascript - I don't know enough Javascript to create a pop-up window with "Hello, world" in it.  The HTML is so basic it was originally hand-crufted in Netscape Composer about six years ago and has subsequently bee updated mostly in Notepad.

I've got FF installed on the machine anyway, so that's not a problem unless the Thought Police find out.

I shall investigate further the ActiveX bobbins, but the curious thing is that the message is intermittent

[delthebike]

I shall investigate further the ActiveX bobbins, but the curious thing is that the message is intermittent

Could be memory getting confused after loading X pages with Y data?

[Wendy]

...and contains no ActiveX, scripts or Tory party propaganda, merely old-fangled HTML.

*Falls over in helpless laughter*

[mrcharly-YHT]

IE6?

upgrade to IE7 or newer.

Or use an alternative such as firefox, opera, chrome.

[SteveC]

I've got FF installed on the machine anyway, so that's not a problem unless the Thought Police find out.

IE6?

upgrade to IE7 or newer.

Or use an alternative such as firefox, opera, chrome.

I suspect from the first of these quotes that this is a work machine.  We're stuck with IE6 as well.  We were promised an upgrade ages ago (complete with pages of instructions on the intranet -- we're only a software company  ) but nothing has yet come of it.
Not that it really matters as everything of interest is blocked by the nannyware

Steve

[Mr Larrington]

I've got FF installed on the machine anyway, so that's not a problem unless the Thought Police find out.

IE6?

upgrade to IE7 or newer.

Or use an alternative such as firefox, opera, chrome.

I suspect from the first of these quotes that this is a work machine.  We're stuck with IE6 as well.

Yep.  Many of the lusers use a nasty browser-based terminal emulator which only seems to work with IE6 or less, so we are stuck with it.