Running direct .SWF (Flash) URL's in IE 7

Some people are IE users and some are FireFox. I'm an IE user. Don't have a specific reason but; one it's what most of the population uses; and two it's what I'm most comfortable with.

But of course there are some annoyances. Lately I've been running into an "Object Expected" javascript error when trying to open direct .SWF files (i.e. http://www.mysite.com/flash.swf). With this issue I'm running IE 7 on Windows XP Pro SP3. I took a quick look at this and found a simple solution. Why this must be done I have no idea and seems pretty stupid but here we go.

--> Deselect "Allow active content to run in files on my computer" <--

This can be found under Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Security Settings