Broadband Tech > Security > Security > Turning off DEP in Windows XP

Turning off DEP in Windows XP

I've never had a problem with DEP. Those file sizes may be the problem though. Or, the extension. Try (e.g.) 'Grad.old'.

Personally, I don't, and wouldn't.
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Better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it.

reply to EGeezer
I saw your question earlier and actually started a reply and got distracted and then forgot...sorry. That is an interesting situation you described. So you get an IE message, not a Windows message, regarding DEP? It should be a Windows message if DEP is causing IE to crash. Plus, an exception to Opt Out (IE I would think in this instance) should show up in DEP exception list. But that doesn't always happen in my experience. I found I had to go into DEP tab and make sure the program that could not handle DEP being on was truly excluded. Plus, I found strange things like Outlook Express worked fine with DEP on until I installed a particular version of Kaspersky AV (with earlier versions of KAV OE worked fine with DEP on) and then OE would crash right after I started it with the ensuing Windows DEP error message. This happened even though KAV was set to NOT scan OE mail. Kaspersky forum had a bunch of posts from others experiencing the same problem. Those using Vista (this was before Windows 7) didn't have the problem.

What is the DEP setting on his computer under System Properties? I assume he has it set to OPT OUT? Is it hardware or software DEP? Being that old of a computer, most likely it only can do software DEP. Just turn off DEP in that case. Software DEP is weak and if it causes problems then not really worth trying to use on XP. If he has hardware DEP (I do on this XP Pro computer and it is about the age of his but not many Intel CPUs could do hardware DEP back in 2005) then it is worth using it set to Opt Out. My experience has been that years ago I had to opt out about 30% of my programs but today only two (and one of those I need to contact the vendor about because I should not need to opt it out) and the other program has not been developed since 2006.

If he has hardware DEP, set DEP to OPT OUT and then run Process Explorer with the DEP Status column selected and see what shows up with DEP as being off. Then exclude those processes from DEP. On my XP Pro SP2 computer all but two processes shown in Process Explorer are running with DEP on. Gadwin Print screen (latest version) crashes if I turn DEP on for it and Process Guard's GUI is missing if I turn it on for it although the PG driver and other related processes run fine with DEP on for them.

On XP it is almost impossible for most users to run with hardware DEP ALWAYS ON. Plus, that setting has to be done from boot.ini probably because Microsoft knew practically no one could use that DEP setting on XP. In fact, until two - three years ago many Microsoft programs (Word, IE, OE, etc could not run with DEP on for them but that has changed).

I haven't had Hotmail in years but it wouldn't surprise me if Hotmail/IE has some problem with DEP and AVI files for some odd reason. Regarding Fx, you said the radio button to send an error report when you used Fx doesn't work? I noticed recently, when Fx 10 ESR began suddenly crashing right after starting, that I could not send an error report and, frustratingly, it didn't say why it wouldn't send and this happened each time Fx crashed. I was never able to send a crash report.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

reply to EGeezer
i just read that microsoft updated "hotmail" a couple of weeks ago, that it now is called "outlook".. maybe there is a bug with the new software that microsoft is using with the new "outlook" email that is causing the problem..

in my opinion, with an old computer that can only do software-DEP, it doesn't make much difference whether DEP is enabled or not.. i have it disabled on my computer, which is an old computer that only does software-DEP..

you could try turning off DEP and see if that makes a difference.. or, contact microsoft and tell them that the new "outlook" email is causing browsers to crash when trying to attach avi files..

reply to EGeezer
A DEP exception mostly indicates buggy software, so your first concern should be that you can be running badly-written junk without really knowing how crap it is.

The secondary concern is that the badly-written junk may have an exploitable vulnerability which gets exploited.

So, it's probably safe enough. Put it this was: if you hadn't heard of DEP, would you be concerned?

And if you can isolate the failing program, try opting-out specific images.

I second the suggestions to figure out whether you have hardware or software DEP.

reply to EGeezer

Thanks all, for the responses! I'll take a trip back to the user and do more troubleshooting to see what particular piece of code is causing the issue.

Dave, just curious - when you speak of "crappy programs", would they work for years than cause issues? The most recent applications that were loaded on the system were Word and Excel from Microsoft Office. Those were loaded before the problem started. It doesn't seem likely those would cause issues, especially related to AVI files.

The rest of the recent installations were automatic Windows and MSE updates from Microsoft. I manually installed updates for Adobe Flash, Reader and a Java update when I checked out the machine.

As you alll mentioned, the Hotmail-to-Outlook conversion could be a contributor. That seems to be the only significant change in the operation of the system around the time the problem supposedly started.

Security forum rocks - thanks again!

reply to ZZZZZZZ
ShellEXView is a very good program. I had forgotten about it though and, while I have it on this computer, I haven't used it in a long while. I have a couple of context menu problems that I may be able solve with it. Thanks for reminding me about it!
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

reply to EGeezer