This may be the shortest "Bad Code" I've ever done, but it keeps on surprising me how many times I see this problem (people asked me questions about it twice in the past week).

 

// BadCode18.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console application.
//

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <windows.h>
#include <tchar.h>
#include <wininet.h>
#include <urlmon.h>
#include <mshtml.h>

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    HRESULT hr;
    CComPtr<IHTMLDocument2> document;

    hr = CoInitialize(0);
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        exit(hr);
    }

    hr = document.CoCreateInstance(CLSID_HTMLDocument);
    if (FAILED(hr))
    {
        exit(hr);
    }

    CoUninitialize();

    return 0;
}

 

That's all it takes, I consciously chose not to add stuff to obfuscate the problem.

Btw, for those who've been reading this blog for a while, I covered this exact same issue in a different form a while ago.