I recently moved to a fresh Windows 8 x64 system and I learned that my favourite firewall (JPF - Jetico Personal Firewall) doesn't get along with Win8x64 (CRITICAL_STRUCTURE_CORRUPTION errors), but I can not do without JPF, so I kind of tried everything I could think of (test mode, debugging, various system changes), but I was still getting blue screens because of the firewall driver/software.

I know for sure that it is the firewall that is causing the problems because I get blue screens as soon as I install it and they stop when I uninstall it. I Also tested it thoroughly on virtual computers.

Anyway, I have discovered that by completely turning DEP off by using this command:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff

the firewall would not cause blue screens anymore.

So my question is, what could go wrong with DEP completely turned off?

Note: I do not care much about hardware/windows security, I keep myself secured by using sandboxes and virtual computers (and I also have backups), so I'm not concerned with viruses and root kits or whatever people are freaking out about.