Disable Windows Data Execution Prevention in Windows 7 & Vista

What is the “Data Execution Prevention”, short DEP?

The DEP Data Execution Prevention is a security feature that has been available since Windows XP SP2. You will also find this feature in Windows Vista and Windows 7.
It’s trying to prevent that certain applications and services can execute code from a non-executable memory region. It’s a useful feature that can help to prevent a buffer overflow and it even helps to fix problems for some games like “Age of Mythology, but it can also cause a lot of problems.

I am posting this solution how to disable and enable the Data Execution Prevention on request of a reader who had serious problems with this feature:

Question asked by Raaghav K.

I was using win7 for little bit time
it was not supporting softwares which were supported by XP
I guessed it to be the Data Execution Prevention in the 7.

While there might be other causes why your software is not running, I’ll try to explain you how you can turn off the DEP.

By the way, I sent a mail to all subscribers that all of your questions are more than welcome. I will try to answer them all, but give me some time so I can answer them properly. You can always post a question on our forums or send me a mail!

Does your CPU support Data Execution Prevention?

• Open the Explorer (Windows key + E) and right-click on “Computer”. Select “Properties” from the context menu.
• On the left click on “Advanced System settings”, click on the “Settings” button of the field “Performance”:

Go to the tab “Data Execution Prevention”:

On the bottom you can see if your CPU supports DEP.

If you want to find out if your CPU also supports “Hardware Virtualization”, then I recommend to download the tool:

“SecurAble” (which has been downloaded about 700,000 times!

As you can see above my CPU, an Athlon 64 X2 5000+ supports Hardware D.E.P. and Hardware Virtualization.

You can download SecurAble here.

Although this is about DEP, I want to quickly tell you what Hardware Virtualization is.

Quick Sidenote about Hardware Virtualization

Hardware Virtualization or better “Hardware Assisted Virtualization” is basically the built-in hardware support of CPU’s that is needed to run virtual machines more efficiently:

What the industry has seen lacking was support for virtualization at the hardware level to boost the performance of the VMM. This is because the x86 processor architecture did not previously meet virtualization standards, making virtualization on the x86 platforms difficult. Starting in 2005 both AMD and Intel made changes to their x86 architectures and added virtualization-friendly extensions.

http://www.webopedia.com/

On a second sidenote, Sony Laptops that run Windows 7 will have HardWare Virtualization disabled by default and therefore no Windows XP mode. However, you can re-enable it via BIOS settings.

Read more about it at Gizmodo

How to disable Data Execution Prevention

Alright, as you can see above, you can’t simply disable the feature with a few clicks (that would be too easy, ha!)

Open the command line: “Start” -> enter “cmd.exe” into search field and hit enter.

Simply run the following command to disable it:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff
You can enable it again with:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOn

Attention!

If you run this command and you are not able to start Windows, then run Windows in safemode and enable it again, using the command above. Start Windows in safemode by pressing F8 during bootup.

Turn Vista into Windows 7 for free

Every time Microsoft delivers a new OS it's possible to get many of the features of a Windows upgrade in the previous version of Windows. Windows 7 is no exception. Here's a roundup of a few things you can do to make Windows Vista as Windows 7-like as possible, without shelling out for the new OS.

We'll start out with a couple tweaks, then tell you about four free apps you can download. And a tip of the hat to the amazing Gina Trapani at Lifehacker, from whom I picked up several of these tricks.

First the taskbar. Windows 7 lets you "pin" apps to the taskbar and we can approximate that in Vista. Here's how.

Right-click on your taskbar.

Select toolbars.

And choose Quick Launch.

Now drag the icons you wish to "pin" into the left side of the taskbar.

Right click on the taskbar again and uncheck "lock taskbar."

Now click on the three rows of dots, hold down the mouse, and drag the bar over until you see all your icons.

Now, they look a little small like that, so let's make them bigger. Make sure the taskbar is unlocked.

Now right click on the taskbar again.

Select the view menu and choose large icons.

That's OK. But if you want a real Mac-like dock, forget all that and install RocketDock. It gives you a whole new Macish dock that you can put down at the bottom of the window instead of the taskbar.

But your Windows still looks all Vista-y. One more interface tweak before we move on. Download VistaGlazz 1.3. It's a utility that changes some system files to allow you to implement third-party themes on Vista. Launch VistaGlazz and, if you're sure, agree to allow it to modify your system files. I did it, and had no issues. But I make no guarantee.

Now you need a Windows 7 theme. Go to DeviantArt.com and get "Windows 7 Style for Vista." It should be by giannisgx89.

Download it, uncompress it, and then inside the Windows 7 Style folder, go into the theme folder and find the file called Windows 7 and the folder called Windows 7. Copy both to C:Windows\Resources\Themes\. (You'll need admin access to copy these.)

Now right-click anywhere on your Desktop and select "Personalize." Click on "Theme" and supposedly you can select the Windows 7 theme from the drop-down list. That didn't work for me, so I had to browse to C:Windows/Resources/Themes and choose the Windows 7 theme manually. Once you've got it, press Apply and you have a Windows 7 look!

You can also go to DeviantArt for wallpaper, log-in screens, and other Windows 7ish customization options.

Four free apps and we're done.

In Windows 7, Aero Shake kicks in when you shake an active Window, minimizing all the other windows. You can download a Vista version from LifeHacker for free.

Next you'll want the nifty Win 7 feature that halves the size of a window and docks it to the side of the screen. There's an app for that. It's German and it's called AeroSnap. You can get it at aerosnap.de.vu.

The Windows 7 calculator is also a lovely souped-up thing. Some intrepid hacker has actually pulled it out of Windows 7 and made it available on Box.net. You'll have to do a search to find it. And there's no guaranteeing it will still be there when you do. Is it legal? That's fuzzy. Probably not. But it is cool. Just make sure you back up your Vista calculator if you decide to replace it with this one. Just in case things go sideways on you.

Finally, Windows 7 has a much easier way to select Wi-Fi networks. It's not a perfect match, but NetSetMan from netsetman.com is much better than the default Vista manger and gives you lots of other powerful tools as well.

There are plenty of other tweaks, like turning off User Account Control and tricks to speed up startup, covered in Ms. Trapani's Lifehacker article as well as in a few of our Windows videos at cnettv.com.