ActiveX controls and plugin changes

ActiveX controls and plugins behave differently in recent versions of Internet Explorer. Here's what you need to know.

In this section

Topic	Description
Binary behaviors are no longer bound automatically	To provide greater consistency with other popular browsers, Internet Explorer does not automatically bind binary element behaviors. (Earlier versions of the browser automatically bound binary element behaviors.)
Browsing in the new Windows UI for web developers	This article describes how pages function differently in Windows 8 between the familiar Internet Explorer for the desktop and Internet Explorer in the new Windows UI. It also describes best practices for building touch-first sites. These recommendations apply to both browsing experiences of Internet Explorer 10 and later.
Cross-browser plugin detection	Plug-in detection code can now be consistent between browsers and you don't need to provide special code for Internet Explorer.
Plugin and ActiveX support in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1	This article describes how pages function differently in Windows 8 between the familiar Internet Explorer for the desktop and Internet Explorer in the new Windows UI.
Supporting enhanced protected mode (EPM)	When enhanced protected mode (EPM) is enabled, Microsoft ActiveX controls are loaded and run only when they support EPM. As a result, ActiveX controls need to recognize and respond to security restrictions enforced by EPM.