ActiveX DLL & ActiveX EXE

Components provide reusable code in the form of objects. An application that uses a component's code, by creating objects and calling their properties and methods, is referred to as a client .

Components can run either in-process or out-of-process with respect to the clients that use their objects. An in-process component, or ActiveX DLL , runs in another application's process. The client may be the application itself, or another in-process component that the application is using.

Components can run either in-process or out-of-process with respect to the clients that use their objects. An out-of-process component, or ActiveX EXE , runs in its own address space. The client is usually an application running in another process.