XP Tech question for MVP please

[Silvabod]

Concern is DEP and "security implications" if it's turned off. Problem has
been notified to MS via the "wizard"
The "faulting" program is Explorer!

Situation - can read a video camera SD memory card program tree, root, and
branch1 directory, but the data files below that. Opening branch 2
directory, can see the file list for about 4 seconds, after which Explorer
shuts down (stating DEP cut in to protect pc - report to MS? and got all the
info re DEP from that)
(no executables, all *.avi files)
Transferred the card directory/content to hdd - same thing. Only way I can
see to get at my files is to turn off DEP. Since the offending program is
Explorer, can I do that without compromising my pc?

 

[Kerry Brown]

Concern is DEP and "security implications" if it's turned off.
Problem has been notified to MS via the "wizard"
The "faulting" program is Explorer!

Situation - can read a video camera SD memory card program tree,
root, and branch1 directory, but the data files below that. Opening
branch 2 directory, can see the file list for about 4 seconds, after
which Explorer shuts down (stating DEP cut in to protect pc - report
to MS? and got all the info re DEP from that)
(no executables, all *.avi files)
Transferred the card directory/content to hdd - same thing. Only way
I can see to get at my files is to turn off DEP. Since the offending
program is Explorer, can I do that without compromising my pc?

Something that you installed has added itself to the context menu for avi
files in Explorer. It could be a codec, a media player program etc. When you
right click an avi file check what options are available. You will have to
try uninstalling any third party options that show up there and see if this
fixes the problem. If you or another porgram has installed any codecs then
this solution may not work. Uninstalling a program doesn't always remove the
codecs it installed. Older versions of divx are a common cause of this.

Kerry

 

[Silvabod]

Thanks Kerry - will try this.

Something that you installed has added itself to the context menu for avi
files in Explorer. It could be a codec, a media player program etc. When
you right click an avi file check what options are available. You will
have to try uninstalling any third party options that show up there and
see if this fixes the problem. If you or another porgram has installed any
codecs then this solution may not work. Uninstalling a program doesn't
always remove the codecs it installed. Older versions of divx are a common
cause of this.

Kerry

 

[Silvabod]

Something that you installed has added itself to the context menu for avi
files in Explorer. It could be a codec, a media player program etc. When
you right click an avi file check what options are available. You will
have to try uninstalling any third party options that show up there and
see if this fixes the problem. If you or another porgram has installed any
codecs then this solution may not work. Uninstalling a program doesn't
always remove the codecs it installed. Older versions of divx are a common
cause of this.

Kerry

LATER - checked what's on my pc (which is almost new) - Just two - Nero
Showtime (which came pre-installed, part of the Nero package) and Windows
Media Player, also pre-installed, but I believe this was updated via
Automatic Update, a month or so ago. The Digital Video camera is VERY new -
relevance is that until now, didn't have any "home-made" avi files.
Difficult to check which codec is the culprit. All I can say is that
Showtime is the only prog that DID work, Media Player refused point-blank to
load from these files (and didn't give an error).

Have bitten the bullet, GHOSTed the entire drive, and disabled DEP on
Explorer (the only program listed in DEP).
Now, both Nero Shopwtime and Windows Media Player work with these video
files! (and I can see/rename the .avi files).
To date, no apparent harm done (but I have both GHOST and another back-up,
just in case).
OS is XPhome (32bit), sp2 + all later upgrades, PC is Athlon 64bit 3400+,
1GB RAM.

How would one identify a faulty codec? Is "Uninstall prog" the only option?

 

[Kerry Brown]

LATER - checked what's on my pc (which is almost new) - Just two -
Nero Showtime (which came pre-installed, part of the Nero package)
and Windows Media Player, also pre-installed, but I believe this was
updated via Automatic Update, a month or so ago. The Digital Video
camera is VERY new - relevance is that until now, didn't have any
"home-made" avi files. Difficult to check which codec is the culprit.
All I can say is that Showtime is the only prog that DID work, Media
Player refused point-blank to load from these files (and didn't give
an error).
Have bitten the bullet, GHOSTed the entire drive, and disabled DEP on
Explorer (the only program listed in DEP).
Now, both Nero Shopwtime and Windows Media Player work with these
video files! (and I can see/rename the .avi files).
To date, no apparent harm done (but I have both GHOST and another
back-up, just in case).
OS is XPhome (32bit), sp2 + all later upgrades, PC is Athlon 64bit
3400+, 1GB RAM.

How would one identify a faulty codec? Is "Uninstall prog" the only
option?

Here's a link for how to see what codecs are installed.

http://www.free-odecs.com/guides/Checking_Installed_VIDEO_and_AUDIO_Codecs_In_Windows_XP.htm

It's not that big a deal to turn off DEP. If you play games you often have
to turn it off altogether. The fact that you are getting a DEP error just
means that something installed has a bug and is accessing memory it doesn't
own. This is quite common but as more systems start supporting DEP programs
will gradually be updated to run properly.

Kerry

 

[Kerry Brown]

Here's a link for how to see what codecs are installed.

http://www.free-codecs.com/guides/Checking_Installed_VIDEO_and_AUDIO_Codecs_In_Windows_XP.htm

It's not that big a deal to turn off DEP. If you play games you often
have to turn it off altogether. The fact that you are getting a DEP
error just means that something installed has a bug and is accessing
memory it doesn't own. This is quite common but as more systems start
supporting DEP programs will gradually be updated to run properly.

Kerry

http://www.free-codecs.com/guides/Checking_Installed_VIDEO_and_AUDIO_Codecs_In_Windows_XP.htm

 

[Kerry Brown]

For some reason the link won't work unless you copy and paste it into the
browser.

http://www.free-codecs.com/guides/Checking_Installed_VIDEO_and_AUDIO_Codecs_In_Windows_XP.htm


Kerry

 

[Silvabod]

Link works fine for me, with double-click. Thanks for the info!