Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a security feature that can help prevent damage to your computer from viruses and other security threats. Harmful programs can try to attack Windows by attempting to run (also known as execute) code from system memory locations reserved for Windows and other authorized programs. These types of attacks can harm your programs and files. DEP can help protect your computer by monitoring your programs to make sure that they use system memory safely. If DEP notices a program on your computer using memory incorrectly, it closes the program and notifies you.
You can easily turn off Data execution prevention for a particular program by the following steps below: NOTE: DEP can be turned off globally for the entire system but it’s not recommended as it will make your computer less secure.
How to Disable DEP in Windows 10
- Right-click on My Computer or This PC and choose Properties. Then click on Advanced system settings in the left panel.
How to Disable DEP in Windows 10 Turn DEP Always On or Always Off using Command Prompt
In Advanced tab click on Settings under Performance.
In the Performance Options window, click on the Data Execution Prevention tab.
Now you have two options as you can see, by default DEP is turned on for essential Windows programs and services and if the second one is selected, it will turn on DEP for all programs and services (not just Windows) except those which you select. 4. If you are facing issues with a program then select the second radio button which would Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those you select and then add the program that is having the problem. However, DEP is now turned on for every other program in Windows and you might end up where you started i.e. you may start having the same problem with other Windows programs. In that case, you have to manually add each program that is having a problem to the exception list. 5. Click the Add button and browse to the location of the program’s executable you want to remove from DEP protection.
NOTE: While adding programs to the exception list you might get an error message saying “You can not set DEP attributes on 64-bit executables” when adding a 64-bit executable to the exception list. However, there is nothing to worry about as it means your computer is 64-bit and your processor already supports hardware-based DEP.
Your computer’s processor supports hardware-based DEP means that all the 64-bit processes are always protected and the only way to prevent DEP from protecting a 64-bit application is to turn it off completely. You cannot manually turn off DEP, in order to do so you have to use the command line.
Turn DEP Always On or Always Off using Command Prompt
Turning DEP always on means it will be always on for all processes in Windows and you cannot exempt any process or program from protection and turning DEP always off means it will be completely turned off and no process or program including Windows will be protected. Let’s see how to enable both of them:
Right-click on the windows button and select Command Prompt (Admin).
In cmd (command prompt) type these following commands and hit enter:
There is no need to run both of the commands, as shown above, you only need to run one. You will also need to restart your PC after any change you made to DEP. After you have used one of the above commands, you will notice that the windows interface for changing DEP settings has been disabled, so only use command-line options as a last resort.
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That’s it you have successfully learned How to turn Off DEP (Data Execution Prevention). So this is all we can discuss DEP, how to turn DEP off, and how to always turn DEP on/off and if you still have doubt or question regarding anything feel free to comment.
