When attempting to print PDF files using Adobe Reader 9.2 the computer hangs until a message appears that the system is closing the application for protection, and advises that the Data Execution Protection settings can be changed to exclude the Adobe product. However, I am unsure about what is Data Execution Protection and how this procedure can be completed. The computer is running Windows XP.

Data Execution Protection (DEP) is included in Windows XP Service Pack 2 and above. This prevents the computer from executing code which is contained within regions of computer memory that are not designed to store executable code. Some malicious exploits attempt to execute code from these non-executable memory regions through particular attack methods, and DEP prevents such attacks from working. As you have found, DEP can prevent some legitimate applications from operating correctly as, for one reason or another, an application may need to be permitted to execute code from a non-executable memory region (most commonly because this can be a fairly efficient way of writing code). Two ways to get around the problem being experienced are to, either completely disable DEP for all programs except essential Windows services or alternatively enable DEP for all programs except Adobe Reader. Either of these options can be done through the same place in the Windows System control panel.

Go to the “Start” menu and right-click on “My Computer” and select “Properties”. In the Properties window that appears, select the “Advanced” tab and under the “Performance” heading click the “Settings” button. The Performance Options window should appear and you need to select the “Data Execution Prevention” tab. You will see two options within this window. The first being “Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only”. This will disable DEP for all programs and applications except essential items which are required for the operation of Windows. This is useful if you only wish to enable protection against potential malicious code which could execute using a Windows program or service as the conduit and method of accessing the computer. This is not a particularly secure setting, as it does not offer any protection against malicious code running in other non-essential Windows programs and services. Therefore, you should select the second option “Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select”. This will enable DEP for all programs and applications running on your computer, but you can set exceptions to exclude certain programs from DEP. In this case the legitimate Adobe Reader program is encountering problems with DEP so we need to add this program to the list of exceptions. Underneath the box that will contain a list of the excluded items, click the “Add” button. Locate and select the executable program file to Adobe Reader (which should be located in a directory such as C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader) and then click Open. You should see Adobe Reader appear in the list of exceptions. Make sure that the item is ticked and then click “Apply” and OK. Now Adobe Reader will be excluded from DEP on the computer. Check whether you are now able to print PDF files without encountering any problems.

Should the problem continue then it is possible the version of Adobe Reader that you are running has been written in a particular way that it is consistently triggering DEP even though we have excluded the application from DEP, perhaps because it is running something in a different background process on the computer. This could be the cause since you are running a fairly old version of Adobe Reader (9.2) while at the time of writing the latest available version of Adobe Reader is X (version 10), which was only released just over one week ago. Therefore, it could be worthwhile visiting the Adobe website (www.adobe.com) to download the latest version of Adobe Reader and then see whether the problem continues.

Should you find that the problem continues it is unlikely to be related to Adobe Reader which would not be surprising since in my testing Adobe Reader X does not encounter any problems with DEP enabled. Therefore, we need to look elsewhere for potential causes. The next most likely cause relates to the printer driver itself. If the printer driver uses an application to support printing (such as a print monitor showing the status of the print job) then it is possible that the supporting printer application is triggering DEP and preventing you from printing from Adobe Reader. In this case it would be likely that you are also experiencing problems with printing from other applications, although it is also possible that it only occurs when you are printing PDF files, as the printing utility may only complete a certain operation in response to printing PDF files which triggers the DEP. Nevertheless, the printer driver is the most likely culprit.

The first procedure that should be completed when we have a suspect driver is to download and install the latest printer drivers from the manufacturer’s website. Assuming that does not fix the problem, you should next have a look through their website to check whether there are any knowledge base or other articles which relate to this problem and how it can be resolved. In one case a user mentioned that the printer manufacturer provided a patch that could be installed after the printer driver to fix the DEP problem, so it is possible that your printer manufacturer may offer a similar patch in lieu of an update which comprehensively fixes the problem.

However, if an updated printer driver does not resolve the issue and no articles are available from the manufacturer suggesting a resolution, then you may wish to consider adding the printer utility to the list of DEP excluded programs and services. Be aware, this will only work if the printer drivers do actually launch a separate program to assist the printing process, since the printer drivers themselves are not a program but instead just a set of instructions which tell the operating system about the connected printer to enable communication between the computer and printer. You can easily tell whether your printer drivers launch a helper application, as when you print most likely a window would appear providing you with feedback about the status of the print job. Should this occur, you will need to find the executable file which is associated with that helper utility. There is a fairly neat way of figuring out the executable file for a particular window. Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to open the Task Manager. In the Windows Task Manager window that appears, click the “Applications” tab. This will show all running applications (in other words, all visible windows). Right-click on the item representing the printer helper application and select “Go to process”. This will switch to the “Processes” tab and select the process which is related to that application. The name of the process is generally the filename of the executable program file for that process. Now you can search the computer for that filename. Once found, add the executable file to the list of DEP exclusions, and hopefully this will no longer interfere with your ability to print.