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I need my computer to stop annoying me and asking me every time whether or not I want ActiveX controls and plug-ins to run. Literally it comes up every second! Please help!

Active X Controls

Yikes, that is annoying! Your browser is a plain Jane program without ActiveX controls and plug-ins. Without these added goodies, you wouldn’t be able to view PDFs, watch videos, listen to music, participate in Web discussions, upload documents, sign into Windows Live, and more. Many come with Windows while others must be installed or added on which is why you may also hear the term “add-ons” when discussing ActiveX controls and plug-ins.

ActiveX Warnings

ActiveX and plug-ins have been exploited in the past which is why Web browsers come with specific security settings to protect against harmful ones. It sounds to me as if your browser’s security settings are set to warn you each time an ActiveX or plug-in needs to perform a certain task, which could be quite often depending on the current Web sites you are using and tasks that you need to perform.

Common ActiveX and Plug-in Settings

I’m not sure which Web browser you’re using, so we’ll work with Internet Explorer 8.0 as an example. The steps are similar for earlier versions. Open Internet Explorer and go to the Tools menu. Choose Internet Options. Click the Internet globe icon to highlight it and then click Custom Level.

Under Settings, scroll to the ActiveX and Plug-ins section. Here you will find the following options which I will number for later explanation:

1. Allow previously unused ActiveX controls to run without prompt
2. Allow scriptlets
3. Automatic prompting for ActiveX controls
4. Binary and script behaviors
5. Display video and animation on a webpage that does not use an external media player
6. Download signed ActiveX controls
7. Download unsigned ActiveX controls
8. Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe for scripting
9. Only allow approved domains to use ActiveX without prompt
10. Run ActiveX controls and Plug-ins
11. Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting

As you can see, there are almost a dozen options for how your computer should handle ActiveX controls and plug-ins. Each of these categories has options along the lines of enable, disable, or prompt. Some, such as #1, #2, #7, and #8, should be disabled. Others such as #6 are generally safe to enable. If in doubt, select “prompt” and make your decision on a case-by-case basis.

Since your computer is warning you constantly, I suspect that #3 (Automatic prompting for ActiveX controls) is set to enable. This means that every time an ActiveX control is called up, you’ll see a little message and a prompt. Try changing this to disable, and the bulk of the messages should go away. I would also make sure that #10 is set to enable rather than prompt.

Recovering Deleted User Account Documents

While the data recovery software that we recommend can recover deleted documents for a low price ($40-$50 depending on the product selected), the good news is that you most likely won’t need it. That’s because when you delete a user account, you aren’t actually deleting the underlying folders where the data is stored.

User Accounts

User accounts make it nicer for individuals who share a single computer. For example, when two users share a computer, with separate user accounts, each person has their own My Documents folder and can customize the desktop to suit individual preferences. E-mail accounts can be tailored to download the user’s messages, Web browsers can be set to display personal favorites, specific software can be loaded, and so on.

The documents, photos, videos, music files, and other data are stored in folders such as: Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, Downloads, Favorites, etc. When signed on as a specific user, the operating system loads all of the preferred settings for that user and makes the user’s folders readily accessible.

When you delete a user account, these subfolders remain on your PC. The trick is to find them.

Finding User SubFolders

First, make sure that you are signed on with administrative rights and then into Windows Explorer. The easiest way to do this is to right-click the Start button and choose Explore. While an option in the submenu says, “Explore all users” it basically just opens Windows Explorer where you can then look for the folders. Choose this option or the Explore option (the result is the same).

Now, you’ll see the contents of the hard drive. Click the hard drive which is usually the C:\ drive. Scroll down to the User folder and click it. You should see subfolders for each user account, included the deleted one. Click your son’s User folder and you’ll find all of his User account subfolders - and all data.  

Creating a New Account

Now that you know the data is safe and sound - and accessible - you can create a new user account for your son and then drag and drop the files into the newly created user subfolders.

Data Recovery Software

Even though you won’t need data recovery software to solve your problem, let me answer your questions for future reference. We recommend ParetoLogic’s Data Recovery products (Standard and Pro) because they’re easy to use. A free scanner let’s you see what’s recoverable so that you don’t waste money on a product when your data isn’t there to recover. Whenever downloading a data recovery program or scan, it’s important to download it to a different media device than the one experiencing data loss, because you don’t want to overwrite the files that you’re trying to recover. If the lost data is stored on the hard drive, download the data recovery software to USB stick, CD-R, floppy, or some other storage device and then run the .EXE file from that device.