Data Excecution Prevention

[kamasig]

I have just brought an Acer Laptop with Visa Basic installed. It came with a
program called Data Execution Prevention installed. It's preventing me from
running programs I had no trouble with on xp. I want to know if this is a
windows program or one that Acer has installed. It basically acts like Zone
Alarm except it doesn't ask if it can run the program or not. I can't even
run Live Messenger without using as administrator. Can someone help?

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

It's a Windows securioty program.

Open Control Panel/System/Advanced System Settings/Advanced Tab. In the
Performance Section, click the Settings Button. In the next window, click
the Data Execution Prevention Tab.

You should click the "How does it work" link, near the top of the page to
read the description of exactly what DEP is all about.

Click the "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select"
option. Click the Add button near the bottom of the screen and an Open
dialog box will appear. Navigate to the Executable file (.exe) for the
program you want to exclude from the DEP monitoring and click Open.

Perform this procedure for each program you wish to exclude.

[sillymeee]

hiya... ive just brought an acer laptop also, with vista installed on it... i
have the same problem... the only version of messenger i have is 7.5, and the
data execution prevention allows this.. it will let me upgrade, but then when
i restart the laptop it says it wont allow it, and you cant turn off the data
thing either, which is naff... the data thingy is with vista, all in all...
im not all that impressed with vista!
its a bit crap!

[BillD]

Install this patch released by Acer:
http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/dat...MSN81patch.exe
http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/for...ords=&areaid=7

Product
Notebook
Related Products
Desktop
Issue
MSN Live Messenger v8.1 has a problem starting in Windows Vista
Download
eDSMSN81patch.exe
File Size: 20.992 KB
Solution

This article applies to Windows Vista systems ONLY.

The new MSN Live Messenger v8.1 has a problem starting when the "MSN
Messenger File Transfer Encryption" feature is enabled in the following v2.5
Acer eDataSecurity Management versions:

For 32-bit Windows Vista: v2.5.3023, v2.5.3028
For 64-bit Windows Vista: v2.5.6025, v2.5.6027, v2.5.6028
For 32-bit Windows Vista with TPM: v2.7.3027, v2.7.3028

This patch is for removing Acer eDataSecurity Management's support for the
"MSN Messenger File Transfer Encryption" feature. The patch applies to the
afore-mentioned Acer eDataSecurity Management versions.

I. Who should apply this patch:

Users who want to run MSN Live Messenger v8.1 on computers with the
afore-mentioned Acer eDataSecurity Management versions.

II. Please follow these steps to install the patch:

1. Extract eDSMSN81patch.exe from the patch .rar file to an empty folder.

2. Run the eDSMSN81patch.exe program.
Note:
i) You will need to grant execution permission on Vista's
User Access Control dialog.
ii) The patch program will shut down the Acer Empowering Technology
Launch Bar. After the patch is applied, the Acer Empowering
Technology Launch Bar will be restarted automatically.

3. The "MSN Messenger File Transfer Encryption" feature of Acer
eDataSecurity Management will then be removed, and the v8.1 MSN Live
Messenger can start without a problem.

III. Please do not apply this patch if you are using MSN Live Messenger v8.0
or an earlier version of MSN Messenger and want to keep the "MSN Messenger
File Transfer Encryption" feature.

IV. Please check back later on Acer's website for a patch release download
of Acer eDataSecurity Management which will have the "MSN Messenger File
Transfer Encryption" feature restored to MSN Live Messenger v8.1.

[boiler_joe]

Sillymeee,

I completely agree with you about WinVista. I am using WV Home Premium on
an HP Laptop and am having similar issues with software - especially from
Microsoft! Frankly, once I get past a few minor issues with Linux setup I
plan to dump MS from 5 computers. Unfortunately my corporate IT idiots
haven't yet seen the light .

[kamasig]

Thanks for that but how do I know what version of Messenger was installed?

[nahn921]

I have a Toshiba with Vista Home Premium. Windows Movie Maker and sometimes
Windows Explorer sometimes stop working and begin restarting because of DEP.
I have this problem mostly with the movie maker when I try to publish/save an
edited video to my computer. I tried to turn off DEP for the movie maker,
but it says that this program must run with DEP enabled and that I cannot
turn off DEP for this program. What can I do to fix this? Right now I am
resorting to using my HP notebook, which has XP Home Edition, because I don't
encounter such a problem. HELP?

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

What's the history of this system? I'd suspect DEP is either doing
what it's supposed to do (i.e. foiling hidden malware that's trying to
get traction through an exploit) or you may have something like what
happened to me in XP, when a repair install to adapt it to a new
motherboard and processor appeared to fail to switch logic from a
non-DEP CPU to the new DEP-capable one.

The first thing I'd do is a set of formal malware scans from my Bart
CDR, or similar but using WinPE or the Vista DVD's Cmd boot.

The second thing I'd do (or possibly the first, if I didn't have
non-HD-based scanners etc.) would be to state chart these:
- Windows
- Windows with all peripherals unplugged
- Windows with ALL networking unplugged/disabled
- as above, but with all startup items disabled in MSConfig
- as above, but with all non-MS services disabled in MSConfig too
- Safe Mode
- Safe Mode Cmd Only (i.e. run MM but not the shell)

It's possible that a shell integration is causing trouble, or possibly
a codec. Nirsoft (www.nirsoft.net) offers several free tools that
lets you reversibly disable such things for testing purposes, and I'd
use Shell Extensions Viewer and MMCompView to test these.

This is Vista, so I don't know what the equivalent to XP's Boot.ini
syntax might be, offhand. Vista doesn't use Boot.ini, and what it
uses instead will have to be managed by appropriate tools, rather than
direct editing in Notepad. Such tools are freely available and it is
documented; dunno if DEP is as manageable, though.

DEP isn't a program as such. It's a security feature of the OS that
harnesses a hardware feature found in modern processors; basically, it
detects attempts to run the contents of "data" memory as code.

This in turn blocks several code exploits, i.e. those that work by
placing code within "data" and then tricking the system into jumping
into it via buffer exploit or whatever.

This is worth doing, because these kind of exploits cut through
by-design logic like a train through tissue paper. Such methods
facilitated Lovesan/Blaster, Sasser and SQL Slammer's clickless
attacks; a firewall may stop the first two of three of these, but if
the same methods are used witrhin content (e.g. WMF or JPG exploits),
there's very little other defense until the defects get patched.

[Manic Mary]

I have done this Ronnie, it still is not stopping it for me at all. I keep
getting BEX & Stack hash problems closing mine. I have also tried the
suggested problem with my explorer ad ons. I am not using a messenger
program just trying to open forms I need to work from sites.
Any ideas would be great !!!