Security from rogue applications in a secure company intranet is less of an issue. In an intranet environment, network bandwidth and the overall performance of application download times are major concerns. Despite the concerns, distributing applications via the Web has great potential for companies and organizations to reduce the cost of software ownership and maintenance. Before taking a closer look at a Web software installation, you should review some of the important files used in the download process. These files make the distribution of software via the Web possible.
Cab files have a file extension of .cab .
The INF file is compressed into the cab file and is the initialization file for the installation process. The INF file contains all the information on how to download and install the component, including the location for any required secondary cab files. The cab file for the runtime Visual Basic DLL or for DAO is a secondary cab file. The INF file has a file extension of .inf . The Download Process Figure 17.1 shows the download process of ActiveX components or controls via the Web.