The latest Intel and AMD processors provide hardware support for detecting and preventing the execution of code in program data areas and hardware support for system resource "virtualization".  Some processors also have 64-bit instruction extensions as well.  SecurAble, by Steve Gibson's Gibson Research Corporation (GRC), will determine if you have the capability.  The web site also has some introductory information about DEP and other security issues. The company is also working on a utility to help you to chose and configure DEP in windows (XP/SP2 and Vista).   While you are at the GRC site, check out their Free Stuff page for more useful utilities. 
 
Another neat utility is ProcessExplorer from Microsoft SysInternals.  "Ever wondered which program has a particular file or directory open? Now you can find out. Process Explorershows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded."  You can also use ProcessExplorer to display DEP status by selecting from the pull-down options menu: View --> Select Column --> then check "DEP Status".  (See also my prior article for more about: Microsoft System Internals.)
 
Click here for Microsoft's Knowledge Base article providing a Detailed Description of the DEP Feature in XP SP2 
 
Be aware that there are many issues and consideration with simply globally turning on DEP within XP SP2 or Vista that are outside the scope of this article.  A lot of information is available online discussing the issues.
 
 
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