Component Object Model...What Is it?

COM (Component Object Model) is a type of component software architecture from Microsoft.

Component Object Model provides interfaces between objects by defining a structure for building those "objects" (program routines, software components) to be called up and executed within a Windows environment.

To be precise, COM is a piece of compiled code which renders some service to the remainder of the system.

COM was built into Windows 95 and 98 as well as Windows NT 4.0. Windows itself and Microsoft's own applications also have components that are put together as COM objects.

A Component Object Model provides the interfaces between Distributed COM (DCOM) permits objects to be remotely run.

COM Automation enables users to build scripts within their applications that are used to perform repetitive tasks or control one application via another.

COM+ and ActiveX controls are also part of Microsoft's COM family. In addition, COM and .NET are complementary development technologies.

The .NET common language runtime enables transparent and bi-directional interoperability with COM, so that COM and .NET applications and components can use the functionality from each system. Software developers use COM to:

*Make reusable software components

*Take better advantage of the services Windows offers

*Link together disparate components in order to build applications

Futhermore, Microsoft provides Component Object Model interfaces for a lot of Windows application services including MSMQ (Microsoft Message Queuing), AD (Microsoft's Active Directory), and WMI (Windows Management and Instrumentation).

It's important to realize that a computer program of any nature and any size can be written as a COM object, and run locally or remotely using DCOM.

"COM object", "ActiveX object", and "ActiveX component" all indicate the same thing.

Any given combination of the designations COM, OLE, and ActiveX followed by the words control, object, or component might or might not have the same meaning, depending on the context.

Every Windows platform, including Vista, supports COM. As of the time of this writing Microsoft has no plans at all to do away with or replace it.

COM was originally developed by Microsoft in the early-1990s to address some then-problems with component communication:

Basic Interoperability - Developers need to be able to create their own unique binary components while at once being assured that these binary components will have the capability of interoperating with other binary components built by different developers.

Transparent Cross-Process Interoperability - Developers need to have the flexibility to write components to run in-process, cross-process, or even in cross-network by way of one simple programming model.

Versioning - System component should be able to be upgraded without requiring that all the system components be upgraded.

Language Independence - Components that are written in different languages need to be able to communicate. COM errors might occur which are similar to those that many users might experience when they are enabling ActiveX controls to fully access a website's features when they are exploring the Internet.

When you use your registry cleaner to perform your scan, it will do the research to determine if your error involves COM or ActiveX, and swiftly deal with the problem.

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