Data Execution Prevention is a relatively new technology in Windows that performs some additional memory checks to help prevent malicious code from being executed on a PC.

This is generally excellent news for PC users, as it can prevent many viruses and malware from being run (even if a virus scanner misses them). However, it can also prevent legitimate applications from running if they execute code in a forbidden way.

Unless you have a specific problem with DEP, it wouldn’t be recommended to disable this useful feature.

To disable DEP completely, launch the command prompt in administrator mode by typing CMD into the start menu and pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER:

Once the command prompt has loaded, type the following command and then press Enter:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff

You can then close the command prompt window, and DEP will be disabled. Should you wish to re-enable Data Execution Prevention follow the same method but run the following command:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx OptIn