DEP

  • Thread starter Thread starter George Justice
  • Start date Start date
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George Justice

What is DEP, my Windows explorer crashes and a little applet tells me
that DEP is protecting my computer
 
1. Open XP's "Help and Support Center".
2. In the Search box type: DEP , and hit enter.
3. Several topics will appear to help assist you.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

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| What is DEP, my Windows explorer crashes and a little applet tells me
| that DEP is protecting my computer
 
JefN said:
| What is DEP, my Windows explorer crashes and a little applet tells me
| that DEP is protecting my computer


Hi George -

DEP is "Data Execution Protection" -- or a memory protection technology.

Have a look at the following Microsoft Technet article:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sp2mempr.mspx

Jef
Click to expand...
I already checked this article, to be honest it is too technical for the
layman. I know a little bit but the whole explanation
is too technical.The trouble came up in a friend's computer when I
plugged in a smart media card, Windows Explorere crashed
I never had this problem with my computer. BTW my friend deleted the
whole file where we stored the files from the smart media card, no more
problems with Windows explorer. Thanks
 
You've been pointed to good sources already. I'll just try to boil it down
to the essentials:

The problem with reading Microsoft documents is that they sometimes include
words and phrases that have no meaning outside the marketing department in
Redmond. Ever try to understand .Net by reading Microsoft's explanation?

In a nutshell, Data Execution Prevention is protection against buffer
overruns. You can think of buffers as holding areas for different types of
data. If you try to stuff more data into a buffer than it was designed to
hold, the data overflows the buffer, just like a glass will overflow if you
pour too much water into it.

Now what might happen if a buffer intended for letters and numbers
overflowed into a buffer meant for executable commands? If you know how to
do it right, you might be able to trick a computer into doing something
naughty and devious. Data Execution Prevention is designed to prevent that
(or to try to.)

You may ask: Instead of DEP, why doesn't somebody just make it so that
buffers don't overflow in the first place? Don't be a troublemaker; you
can't imagine how much fighting goes on over such a question.

Until buffers stop overflowing, DEP is with us. The thing is, not all
software will work properly with DEP in place so Microsoft gave us the
ability to turn it off for non-MS applications.

Modem Ani
 
Modem said:
You've been pointed to good sources already. I'll just try to boil it down
to the essentials:

The problem with reading Microsoft documents is that they sometimes include
words and phrases that have no meaning outside the marketing department in
Redmond. Ever try to understand .Net by reading Microsoft's explanation?

In a nutshell, Data Execution Prevention is protection against buffer
overruns. You can think of buffers as holding areas for different types of
data. If you try to stuff more data into a buffer than it was designed to
hold, the data overflows the buffer, just like a glass will overflow if you
pour too much water into it.

Now what might happen if a buffer intended for letters and numbers
overflowed into a buffer meant for executable commands? If you know how to
do it right, you might be able to trick a computer into doing something
naughty and devious. Data Execution Prevention is designed to prevent that
(or to try to.)

You may ask: Instead of DEP, why doesn't somebody just make it so that
buffers don't overflow in the first place? Don't be a troublemaker; you
can't imagine how much fighting goes on over such a question.

Until buffers stop overflowing, DEP is with us. The thing is, not all
software will work properly with DEP in place so Microsoft gave us the
ability to turn it off for non-MS applications.

Modem Ani
Click to expand...
Thanks for your explanation, before they post technical articles meant
for the general public, they should test
the language with the average consumer first. I always wonder why is it
that people in the computer sciences
have a hard time communicating with the average consumer? Now back to my
original question, my friend's
computer is a brand new Dell, with a whole bunch of programs running in
the background, so probably when I plugged
in the smart media card it caused the problem. Thanks for taking the
time to expalin the article to me.
 
Buffer overflow is a software programming problem. You won't know which
program is causing the problem unless you disable or uninstall them, one by
one, until you hit upon the offending program. Then you have to go to that
program's creator and ask them to help you.

DEP is a highly technical concept. In order to really understand it, you
have to delve into the technicalia of memory buffers and software
programming. That's why the descriptions of it are so complex. I have only a
basic knowledge of these things, but computers are a hobby for me so I have
an interest in exploring areas that are largely over my head. It took me
days to figure out what I wrote.

Modem Ani
 
George said:
What is DEP, my Windows explorer crashes and a little applet tells me
that DEP is protecting my computer
Click to expand...

I heard that this works:
Step 1 Disable DEP completely if using windows XP SP2

To do this, open My Computer, C:
Tools Folder Options View Tick Show Hidden Files and folders, and
untick "Hide Extensions for known file types" and "Hide protected
operating system files"

Now on c: you should see boot.ini

Open it up in notepad. The last line should end in /fastdetect
/noexecute=optin

Change it so it now ends /fastdetect /execute

File Save Exit.
Treeman :cool:
 
Modem said:
Buffer overflow is a software programming problem. You won't know which
program is causing the problem unless you disable or uninstall them, one by
one, until you hit upon the offending program. Then you have to go to that
program's creator and ask them to help you.

DEP is a highly technical concept. In order to really understand it, you
have to delve into the technicalia of memory buffers and software
programming. That's why the descriptions of it are so complex. I have only a
basic knowledge of these things, but computers are a hobby for me so I have
an interest in exploring areas that are largely over my head. It took me
days to figure out what I wrote.

Modem Ani
Click to expand...
My friend called Dell Support and they told him it was a virus, their
solution reinstall the OS. So my friend
deleted the dir.that I created when I downloaded the pictures. End of
story. I'm really disapointed that none of the Microsoft
engineers answered my post.
 
Treeman said:
George Justice Wrote:



I heard that this works:
Step 1 Disable DEP completely if using windows XP SP2

To do this, open My Computer, C:
Tools Folder Options View Tick Show Hidden Files and folders, and
untick "Hide Extensions for known file types" and "Hide protected
operating system files"

Now on c: you should see boot.ini

Open it up in notepad. The last line should end in /fastdetect
/noexecute=optin

Change it so it now ends /fastdetect /execute

File Save Exit.
Treeman :cool:
Click to expand...
Next time I see my friend I'm going to try it.Thanks
 
Why did you expect a "Microsoft engineer" to answer your post? This is a
public newsgroup, not Microsoft support.

Modem Ani
 
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