Data Shredder

 

When you erase a hard drive or delete a file using standard tools, only a reference to its data is removed from the file system. Simply deleting sensitive files, such as user data or licensed software, may not be safe, as there are tools capable of restoring deleted files. Data Shredder is an Antivirus component that allows you to irreversibly erase your files, folders, or entire drives by overwriting them with meaningless data multiple times before deleting them, which prevents their restoration or misuse. It is especially useful when selling or donating your PC or hard drive.

Data Shredder is not available for macOS devices.

Configuring Data Shredder Settings

To define which algorithm this data protection component will use when shredding files, folders, or drives:

1. Open the Policies page
2. Click the desired policy to open its Detail drawer
3. Select the Settings tab, then Antivirus
4. Expand the Data Shredder section (under Data Protection)

5. Under Algorithm settings, choose one of the following:
   • Random overwrite (default option) overwrites data with random patterns. You can choose how many overwrites are performed (1 is default, 100 is maximum). This is the simplest and quickest method.
   • DOD (Department of Defense) 5220.22-M algorithm overwrites data with zeros, ones, and random characters within three passes. This method is more secure, but slightly slower than the random overwrite method.
   • Gutmann algorithm overwrites data according to the encoding mechanism used by the drive. This is the slowest, but the most secure method.

Also, you can tick/untick the boxes above these settings to define whether to:

• Show Data Shredder in the Windows context menu — Allows the end user to right-click any file or folder and select to shred with Avast.
• Prioritize shredding — Ensures that shredding will take priority when it comes to the usage of system resources, resulting in faster shredding (but also in more impact on system resources/other applications).

Uninstalling Data Shredder

To uninstall this component from all devices under the same policy, access the Data Shredder settings within that policy (see section above), click the trash bin icon, then confirm your choice.

For this action to take effect, a device restart is required. Once the process is complete, the affected device(s) will automatically get the In danger status.

To uninstall Data Shredder from a single device, you will need to override its Antivirus settings the following way:

1. Open the Devices page
2. Click the desired device to open its Detail drawer
3. Select the Services tab
4. Under the Antivirus section , tick the Manually customize settings inherited from policy checkbox to enable customization

5. Click the toggle next to Data Shredder so that it turns gray
6. Restart the device

To learn more about policy overrides, see Overriding Inherited Policy Settings.