Protected memory area

A computing device comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a controller to:
• in response to the computing device powering on, create, in the memory, a protected memory area inaccessible to an operating system, wherein the protected memory area includes information relating to instructions and an indication settable to a first value to indicate that the instructions are allowed to access a memory external of the protected memory area, and a second value to indicate that the instructions are not allowed to access the memory external of the protected memory area;
• in response to creating the protected memory area, modify the indication from the first value to the second value to restrict the instructions when executed from accessing the memory external of the protected memory area;
• and
• in response to modifying the indication, launch code in the computing device, the code comprising the operating system or firmware.

A non-volatile computer readable medium comprising instructions that upon execution cause a computing device to:

• in response to the computing device powering on, create a system management memory area inaccessible to an operating system of the computing device, wherein the system management memory area includes information relating to instructions and an indication settable to a first value to indicate that the instructions are allowed to access a memory external of the system management memory area, and a second value to indicate that the instructions are not allowed to access the memory external of the system management memory area;
• in response to creating the system management memory area, modify the indication from the first value to the second value to restrict the instructions when executed from accessing the memory external of the system management memory area;
• and
• in response to modifying the indication, launch code in the computing device, the launched code comprising the operating system or firmware.