The RTM version of Win8 needs Execute Disable Bit to be enabled from bios in order to install itself. My current bios doesn’t show any option to enable/disable this function and unless i burn a DVD to test the installer i won’t know if Win8 will run on my laptop (my CPU is an i5-2430M that supports XD Bit), if XD Bit has always been enablet or if HP removed the option to enable it from the bios.
There should be an instruction/system call that let the user know if his/her machine is running with NX Bit enabled (or any other implementation, like XD Bit, Enhanced Virus Protection etc.), since the Win8 setup does this trick, but i can’t find on google. Any info?
If you’re using Windows now you can go to
My Computer->Advanced System Settings->Advanced (tab)->Performance (settings button)->Data Execution Prevention to check if it’s enabled.