Data Shredder Kills Performance

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I have a brand new installation of Avast Premier on Windows 8.1. I’ve tried twice to use the Data Shredder to clear unused space on a 2TB primary system drive. The problem that occurs is that many of my other applications such as Microsoft Outlook and Word stop responding. Even when I attempt to kill the application process, they all just hang. I only get to the “Cleaning Cluster Tips” in the shred process (18%) when things bog down.

Solution?

2

It’s most likely best to leave your computer idle while it is data shreddering.

3

Can you use the Windows scheduler to run it overnight? (I assume w8 still has one).

4

With a 3 TB hard drive, it takes a long time. So far each attempt gets me to about 15% in roughly 8 hours and then it all grinds to an unresponsive state. No other applications can be used.