PeakSight 6.2 and DEP (Data Execution Prevention)

[UofO EPMA Lab]

Edgar wrote and said that he thinks the problem is that there's a patched DLL for Aphelion on the PeakSight DVD that needs to be copied over manually to the Cameca program folder.  Unfortunately the Cameca docs didn't mention this!

The freeze of PC come from an update missing for Aphelion. The file Adcis_.Driver.Falcon.dll on sxpc-V6.2\Patches folder should be copied into C:\Program Files (x86)\Cameca SX\bin\Aphelion431.NET folder.

So we just copied it over this morning and now we're running PeakSight.  Hopefully this is good to go!

Oh happy day- PeakSight ran all night long without locking up the computer.  We guess the Aphelion dll patch worked!   We have to wonder why Cameca didn't just add this new dll to their installer?  It's certainly necessary it seems.

We'll try playing with the DEP settings now...

[UofO EPMA Lab]

Now that we've utilized the bcdedit command as suggested by the Cameca installation document, we can no longer apply DEP settings from the System Advanced Properties dialog as described above, as everything displayed is now disabled.

However, one can still utilize the bcdedit command line from an admin command prompt. So here are the various DEP parameters one can set using the following syntax:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx <parameter>

where <parameter> is one of the following:

DEP Support Policy   Policy Level   Description
              2               OptIn           Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only (default?)
              3               OptOut         Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those selected by admin.
                                                  Admin can add create one DEP exception list
              1               AlwaysOn     Enable DEP for all process
              0               AlwaysOff     Disable DEP for all process

We've set it to OptIn which should provide basic protection and hopefully PeakSight will still function properly.  Stay tuned...

Edit by John: after issuing the OptIn parameter from the command line, we can now edit the DEP settings in the Advanced Settings GUI, as long as we are doing it from an admin login!

[neko]

I hope the fix works! Always nice to have an easy one.

Also: DAMNIT JOHN. Are you trying to actually kill me?      I'm joking, but...

I was curious what version of Aphelion we have, as I know our version most definitely wont install on Windows 7, or any version of XP in any version of any VM I've tried (and PeakSight wont install without Aphelion). So I broke out our PeakSight 4.0 CD to check and...

I noticed an "Upgrade for 4.0" directory on the CD. The notes indicate to me that they might solve at least two bugs I've noticed throughout the years (not bad ones, just annoying to work around).

I might test these out on our live spare computer, and maybe, maybe, one day install them on our main computer but... I'm afraid. If there's one thing I've learned from a lifetime of fighting with computers, it's the road to hell isn't paved with good intentions, it's paved with upgrades. And it's not so much a road, it's more like a portal. And you're always sitting inside the event horizon. And this software is so old I doubt anyone remembers which versions work best and which turned out to have some bad juju from the fix. Whee!

And before you ask, the exes contain files that are also in the zip files, and the directories contain some of the files as well, some with different dates on them, and there are zip files in the directories containing all the files in the directories, but I think those at least match.... the scientific software world is very creative. I guess I'll sort out the latest versions of every file on my own and hope for the best... on my spare machine. After backups. So, so many backups. If there are any other PeakSight4 holdouts out there that this is news to, I'll be documenting my pain to share with you.

P.S. I really need to stop calling the Aphelion software Matrox just because it used to work with their boards. Must be all the Matrox cards I owned as a wee baby, the name just sticks now.

[UofO EPMA Lab]

Also: DAMNIT JOHN. Are you trying to actually kill me?      I'm joking, but...

I was curious what version of Aphelion we have, as I know our version most definitely wont install on Windows 7, or any version of XP in any version of any VM I've tried (and PeakSight wont install without Aphelion). So I broke out our PeakSight 4.0 CD to check and...

Hi Nick,
Sorry if I caused any trauma to your delicate sensibilities!   

When you say "our version" did you mean v. 4 or v. 6.2 of PeakSight?   Are you having to switch from XP to Win 7 as most of us are being required to do, if we want to stay Internet connected?

Also just wanted to add that PeakSight seems to be running fine now with DEP set to the "OptIn" parameter, which is most of the basic DEP protection enabled. In summary, Cameca says to issue this command to completely turn off DEP:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff

but it would be much safer to issue this command for DEP protection if you are connected to the Internet (or have students inserting USB sticks into the PC!):

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx OptIn

I might try this DEP command next:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx OptOut

and then just see how PeakSight runs.  If PeakSight continues to run fine with the DEP OptOut parameter, then we are good.  If PeakSight locks up the PC again, we could turn off DEP only for the problematic Cameca app(s). Maybe just the Cameca Server exe file?  Does anyone know what specific app of their's that Cameca is worried about that they want DEP turned off?