Vista problem with Notepad, Wordpad, Paint, and Sidebar

[noetus]

What do all the above programs have in common? Whenever I try to access a menu in Notepad, Wordpad, or Paint (either with a mouse click or by using the Alt key) the program immediately crashes, with the following error:

"Windows Wordpad Application has stopped working" (or Notepad or Paint)


And then I have to quite the application (losing anything unsaved).

This also happens when I right-click on the Windows Sidebar (the only way of accessing its menu) so that I am no longer able to change any settings in Sidebar.

This is no good - I NEED Notepad, Wordpad, and Sidebar to work.

The funny thing is, this is the THIRD time this has happened to me on DIFFERENT Vista installs on TWO different Thinkpads (a T42 and a T60p). But when I search google, I can't find any reference to other people having this problem.

Surely something has gone wrong somewhere, in a registry setting or something - for the same thing to happen across several different programs (rendering them useless) that is each a basic part of windows there has to be an easy fix - but what?

[noetus]

Here's a part-reply to my above question - notepad, wordpad, paint and sidebar all appear (as shortcuts) in the "Programs > Accessories" folder. Guess what? Calc is not working either (it starts, but trying to access its menu crashes it) and Sound Recorder and Windows Mobility Center crash when I open them and then right-click on their window bars. These also have shortcuts in the "Accessories" folder. But why should this matter? And windows explorer, which also appears in the Accessories folder, is working just fine.

Mystery! I have a sneaking suspicion that the issue has to do with file permissions. But I don't know exactly. Can anyone help?

[noetus]

I realise this is not a general Vista forum, but for Vista on Thinkpads, so I'm sorry if my posting appeared more general than is warranted here. Nevertheless, since it happened on two Thinkpads, and I couldn't find reference to such a problem by searching the 'net, I figured I would post here.

I have now fixed the problem - though not in a way I would like. I turned off DEP (Data Execution Prevention) and rebooted, and all those programs are working correctly again. This seems like a Vista bug to me - I know that people were complaining about DEP in the earlier pre-RTM releases of Vista, it looks like some issues weren't resolved.

I do know that DEP is supported in hardware by the Thinkpad I have - maybe that has something to do with it. I also note that when I first tried to switch off DEP for ONLY those programs that weren't working correctly (under System Properties > Advanced > Performance Settings > Data Execution Prevention), I got an error from Windows saying that it wasn't possible to turn off DEP for those programs (presumably because they are Windows components). Hence I turned to the low-level way of switching off DEP entirely - you have to run an 'elevated' command prompt (right click and run 'cmd' as administrator) and then type:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff

(The same with AlwaysOn turns it back on again).

Too bad I have to do this - turning off DEP seems like a bad idea to me. Maybe I should post this somewhere else, or with MS or something.

[noetus]

Just one last post here - it occurs to me with some amusement that running into this problem immediately made me think - and justifiably so, I think - that the problem is a bug in Vista. After all, perhaps DEP is working just as it should - and my system is somehow being infiltrated by something nasty that is trying to get at my Windows core code via Notepad, Wordpad, Paint, Sidebar, Calc, et al? That IS possible, after all. Then DEP would be doing just what it is supposed to do. But the much greater likelihood is that there is a problem in Windows itself. This is sad. No, I mean it, this is really sad. Windows tries to implement a security feature and it causes more problems, worldwide (I would bet) by working improperly than it solves by acting properly as a security feature. This is an old, old, story with Windows.

[steveg47]

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff

Rather then using AlwaysOff try setting nx to OptIn.

[noetus]

What is the difference between these two settings?

[steveg47]

What is the difference between these two settings?

Optin
Enables DEP only for operating system components, including the Windows kernel and drivers. Administrators can enable DEP on selected executable files by using the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT).

Optout
Enables DEP for the operating system and all processes, including the Windows kernel and drivers. However, administrators can disable DEP on selected executable files by using System in Control Panel.

AlwaysOn
Enables DEP for the operating system and all processes, including the Windows kernel and drivers. All attempts to disable DEP are ignored.

AlwaysOff
Disables DEP. Attempts to enable DEP selectively are ignored.
On Windows Vista, this parameter also disables Physical Address Extension (PAE). This parameter does not disable PAE on Windows Server 2008.