Active Desktop was a feature of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0's optional Windows Desktop Update that allows the user to add HTML content to the desktop, along with some other features. This function was intended to be installed on the then-current Windows 95 operating system. It was also included in Windows 98 and later Windows operating systems until Windows Vista, where the feature was discontinued. This corresponded to version Internet Explorer 4.0 to 6.x, but not Internet Explorer 7.
Users can add HTML both in place of the regular wallpaper and as independent resizable desktop items. Items available on-line can be regularly updated and synchronized so users can stay updated without visiting the website in their browser.
Active Desktop works much like desktop widget technology in that it allows users to place customized information on their desktop.
Read more about Active Desktop: History, Later Usage
Famous quotes containing the word active:
“I am grown old and my memory is not as active as it used to be. When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now, and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this, but we all have to do it.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)