Future noob questions - VPN, activex...

GDay,

I will be buying a MBP in the next month. It'll be my first Mac. I'm resigned to the fact that I will have to run Windows on it for some work apps but will try and avoid that as much as possible.

I know Cisco have an IPSec VPN client for Mac, but I'm wondering what other VPN connectivity options are available? I assume there is built in VPN connectivity? Most importantly which is the most stable?

The thing that will annoy me the most is if I have to run IE due to some websites using ActiveX. I imagine Safari won't run ActiveX? Is my only option here to run these crappy sites in IE in a Windows VM or Bootcamp?

ActiveX is a windows thing, so yep.. you'll have to run a VM or bootcamp windows version. I'm really not sure why on earth anyone would code a website that can only be viewed under one specific browser.

I can't answer your VPN question specifically, although I do know that VPN is built in. I just don't know what protocols are used.

Edit: here's a screenshot from VPN setup.