Turn off DEP for a program in Windows Vista

Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a security feature included in Microsoft Windows XP, Vista and 7 which acts to prevent an application or service from executing code from a non-executable memory region. This can be a great tool to prevent infection by a webpage based malware. But this can cause some programs to crash. You can choose to disable DEP for such programs in Windows Vista. This is how :

  1. Press the key combination Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog.
  2. In the Run dialog, type SystemProtectionAdvanced.exe and press Enter. This would open the System Properties window with Advanced tab selected.
  3. Click on the button labeled Settings under the Performance category as shown.

  4. Select the Data Execution Prevention tab in the window that opens.
  5. Select the option Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select. a shown

  6. Now you can click on the Add button to browse for the program for which you want to turn off the DEP. In the above picture, we have added Notepad++.
  7. Click on OK button when you have added the program to the list.