I'm your amazingly geeky host Karl Moore — and it's my job to ensure your ride on the Visual Basic train to ActiveX control land is an exciting one. Well, maybe just a slight-amusing one. Hmm, perhaps just a ride.

But don't let my pair of glass-bottle-bottom spectacles fool you - this isn't just a journey for mega-geeks.

Whatever Visual Basic programming experience you may have, learning about the wonderful world of ActiveX could improve your career, your bank balance and your love life*.

* (Love life claims based solely on life-long research by author Karl Moore and his numerous worldwide cyber-girlfriends)

Today, we'll be:

• Getting the low-down on ActiveX components
• Finding out the difference between ActiveX components and ActiveX controls
• Discussing a few nerdy things (too boring to mention)
• And... <drum roll> ... we'll be creating our own ActiveX control!

I know you're excited — but please, hold it in.

So without further ado, let's tootle off into the magical realms of ActiveX...