The ActiveX control that is apparently loaded by the "FIOS Speed Optimizer" appears to be attempting to write to a memory instruction area, which is being blocked by the Windows XP DEP (Data Execution Prevention) feature. DEP's purpose is to prevent hackers from running self-modifying code. Older machines may work, since some older CPUs don't support DEP.
Both my gaming machine and my software development machine throw this DEP error. They have different anti-virus software, and different CPUs (AMD - Intel), but they are both running Windows XP PRO SP3 with all the latest Microsoft updates. My development machine gave me the following specifics, where only the virtual address changes with each attempt:
Dialog title: "iexplore.exe - Application Error"
Dialog text: The instruction at "0x0A060068" referenced memory at "0x0A060068". The memory could not be "written".
The Windows XP options for DEP probably should not be disabled. The DEP options can be found in Control Panel ==> System ==> Advanced tab ==> Performance Settings button ==> Performance Options Dialog ==> Data Execution Prevention tab.
Verizon technical support first showed me the "FIOS Speed Optimizer" by taking over my machine, but he could not run it because of the DEP error. I fixed my original problem by rebooting my D-Link router, which bumped my uplink speed from 2 MBits to the 5 MBits that I am paying for. It turns out the my D-LINK DIR-655 router measures uplink speed at boot and then limits it to this value from that point forward (i.e. its Traffic Shaping feature). Nice! I am now at 15/5 the slowest FIOS rate... 🙂
I know enough to know just how much I don't know, so maybe my conclusions are wrong and the software engineers that developed the FIOS Speed Optimizer will correct me - AND fix this problem.
