Browsers treat the active state differently. Read this:-
http://www.wickham43.net/generaladvice.php#links
Most only show the active state while pressing the mouse button, not afterwards, (ie only while it is active) but IE retains the active state after you use the back button to return to the page you clicked on a link.
What you want may be focus, which again is treated differently because IE doesn't support focus, using active instead.
Code downloaded to my PC will be deleted in due course.
WIN7; IE9, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari for Windows; screen resolution usually 1366*768.
Also IE6 on W98 with 800*600 and IE8 on Vista 1440*900.