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ActiveX Plug-in (Firefox 1.0-1.0.7, 1.5)
Some Embedded/Streaming Media (such as those on Yahoo's Launch Music Service) use an ActiveX Control to embed Windows Media into a web page. ActiveX is what Internet Explorer uses instead of the plug-in system adopted by Netscape. Where plug-ins are essentially sub-programs run within the browser (and so subject to whatever limitations the browser imposes on it), ActiveX controls are Windows programs, and so do not have limits imposed on them and what they are allowed to do. This gives them a lot of potential power over your system, especially coupled with the fact that IE can download and install them automatically and silently for you. The intention was to allow for more complex web page content, but the system can be and has been exploited to install viruses, adware, spyware, and the like. The power of ActiveX can be a big security risk, and is one of the more serious security vulnerabilities in IE. Partly for this reason, Firefox does not come with ActiveX support installed. There are ActiveX plug-ins for Firefox available, and this section of the guide gives instructions for installing and testing it. The security issue is bypassed because the plug-ins for Firefox come pre-configured to only run the Windows Media Player controls. It will simply refuse to download or run any other control, good or bad. This will allow you to view many of the websites that only use ActiveX to embed media. Alternatively, this Greasemonkey script can (among other things) provide partial support for Windows media embedded with ActiveX. If the media uses any of the functions unique to ActiveX (which most do), then it still won't work properly. Info on this script can be found here: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=323276 Before You begin: IMPORTANT. If you use the Adblock Extension, you must make sure that the setting for OBJ-TABS is disabled. Otherwise, your system will run almost any ActiveX control. See Note 4. Before installing the ActiveX plug-in, read the following:
Installing the ActiveX Plug-in
Checking ActiveX Plug-in Installation
Embedded Media that still won't work If the test link in the previous step worked, then the ActiveX plug-in is working. So:
Uninstalling ActiveX Should you want to uninstall the ActiveX plug-in, the process is simple - only four files need to be manually deleted from the Firefox program folder.
------------------------------------------------------------- Notes Note 1. With certain versions of ActiveX installed, sometimes the Flash plug-in will not load unless it was previously loaded. A work-around is to refresh your plug-ins (type about:plugins in your address bar) when starting FireFox, under those circumstances everything loads normally. Note 2. AnonEmoose and I have tested these methods of installing ActiveX with many sites that use ActiveX to stream video (including launch.com video, cjob.com Listen Live, startrek.com video and others) with no problems. However, this does not guarantee that this will allow Firefox to view all embedded/streaming video - for example, some also use IE-only JavaScript in the embedded players. Note 3. AnonEmoose has tested Yahoo/Launch Radio, and believes it does NOT work with Firefox Note 4. For some reason, the OBJ-TABS setting in the Adblock Extension interferes with the ActiveX plug-in. The activex.js file that is installed with the plug-in determines which controls the plug-in may and may not run. If the OBJ-TABS setting is enabled, then the ActiveX plug-in will ignore activex.js and run any control. Note 5. IE has a function whereby if you are downloading a video file (such as through a link), it can have WMP play the file as it is downloading. There are methods of duplicating this behavior in Firefox here: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=206216#stream Note 6. If you ever have trouble finding any files on your computer, make sure you have enabled the viewing of hidden files and folders in Windows folder options. Note 7. If you ever have trouble playing media at a site that is reported to work in Firefox when using this method, try clearing all cookies set by that site, then re-trying. In addition, make sure that cookies for the site in question are not blocked (the Adblocker extension could also do this). Note 8. The test players are all mirrored:
------------------------------------------------------------- Troubleshooting If, after following the guide, Embedded Windows Media still won't play properly, then recheck that the Windows Media Player plug-in files and the ActiveX plug-in file are installed, and that the issue is not documented in the Configuring/Troubleshooting the Windows Media Player plug-in section. If you are still unable to resolve any issues, ask for help here in the Mozilla Firefox Support forum. Say that you followed this guide and include the following information:
Thanks to AnonEmoose for letting me cannibalize his guide, Adam Lock for his ActiveX plug-ins, Chris Pederick for his User Agent Switcher Extension, _Jim_ for his ActiveX test page, and rtmjr50 for his input and help. Thanks to MozillaZine for compiling this guide. AnimeCrave does not officially endorse or support this guide. All external links are under control of their proprietary owners. AnimeCrave takes no responsibility for any damages or problems that may occur when using this guide. |
