Two questions:
1.   What is ActiveX and is it helpful in computing.   
2.   Other than it is good to eat, what are "cookies". My spy sweeper has detected a whole slew of them. Is it OK to delete them?

Thanks.

Bubblehead

ActiveX can be good or bad. They can be used to install useful tools or applets for games. However, malicious websites can use it to install spyware and other crap onto your system.

My suggestion is to get firefox which doesn't have activeX. You will still need IE for some websites as well as using windows and office update.

If you can configure activex correctly, it can be very useful, but as your asking about it, best to turn it off.

Cookies are little pieces of info that are put into your browser's cache to keep track of info. This site, simviation, outs a cookie into your browsers cache to remember your logon info (unless of course you log off in which case the cookie is deleted). Cookies generally perform this kind of function of remembering your preferences on a site.

Cookies generally are good, so you can leave it on, I do. A bad thing about cookies though is that they leave a trace on your computer of all the sites you visit which spyware (and anybody with access to your comp) can look at.