Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: admin10 on October 22, 2022, 02:37:49 AM
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I have Avast Premium and need to delete the VPX files as they are fragmented on my SSD drive. But, I get a msg that I need administrator privileges. I am logged into win 11 on a local account.
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1. Are you aware what these vpx files are - if my memory serves me correctly they are related to the virus definitions used to protect you
2. Aren't SSD drives not susceptible to fragmentation in the same way as old style HDD drives.
https://superuser.com/questions/97071/do-ssds-get-fragmented-and-if-they-do-is-that-an-issue
3. The Avast folders/files are protected to prevent malware doing what you are seeking to achieve. They would be protected by the avast self-defence module.
So the real question is why do you feel you need to delete them ?
What are you trying to achieve, are you seeing issues, if so what ?
Typically on an old HDD drive can slow system response/speed, but this should not be the case.
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How did you determine that those files are fragmented?
The way an SSD presents data to a file system has little bearing to how the actual data is stored in the cells of the memory chips.
Wear leveling, garbage collection and TRIM mean that on any modern SSD and OS, the bits that make up a file will move from block to block, cell to cell, over time. Whether all the bits are together or scattered around the drive, makes no functional difference to performance.
Fragmentation, in the sense of files on a file system, means the data comprising a file isn't contiguous and sequential. On a HDD this actually means something, but on an SSD it just doesn't. For the end user an SSD is a black box where data goes in, and data comes out. Where it lives within the device, is more or less indeterminable.
If you're worried about performance; don't. If you're worried about SSD wear; don't go 'defragment' because it doesn't make data contiguous within the actual chips. You'll just wear the drive out faster and accomplish the exact opposite of what you were intending.
TLDR: You might defragment files within the file system, but the file system itself isn't contiguous on an SSD. Data shifts around underneath to make the SSD last longer.