Err, I know this is a really simple question, and you'll all laugh and point at me, but what's a DLL and what use is it? I know you need certain DLLs to run certain apps, and that DLL stands for 'dynamic link library' or something, and I've inferred from what people have said that you can make them using VB/C++ but I really don't know what one is.

Same goes for ActiveX controls actually.

I've used VB now and then for about 2 years, but I was at college (that's A-Levels to all you Americans out there) so I was too busy wasting my time to be concentrating on programming

Can anybody help me out?