I'd like to update the community on the main issues users experience with the stable build of Eraser 6.
Symptom: Eraser crashes on program startup
Causes: Two known causes.
Cause 1: Eraser crashes on startup with an InvalidOperationException. The cause is due to a code bug which apparently only affects the minority of computers (especially those without .NET 3.5 Service Pack 1).
Resolution 1a: Manually install the
.NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1: SP1 is extremely important for the proper functioning due to certain bugs in the .NET libraries having only been fixed in SP1.
Resolution 1b: schale01 has tested a fix committed in r1428. Users affected by this issue can test the nightly builds (r1428 and later)
Symptom 2: Before the crash an error message stating that "the first/last 16kb erasure method requires another erasure method to erase the file. This must be set in the plugin settings dialog."
Cause 2:You have selected the First/Last 16KB erasure method as the default erasure method. There is no default method for the first/last 16KB erasure method.
Resolution 2: Use the nightly build which has a version r1483 and later.
Symptom: Eraser causes Windows to be unresponsive and slow. CPU usage is less than 100% of one core/CPU
Causes: None known. Current suspects are poorly written device drivers. Eraser queries those device drivers for the purposes of entropy gathering.
Resolution: Proposed patch under testing.
Symptom: Eraser cannot connect to the running instance for erasures when erasing files from the Context Menu
Symptom 2: "Eraser has stopped working" dialog under Vista or Windows 7
Symptom 3: Eraser crashes with a NullReferenceException when using the Context Menu
Cause 1: Eraser context menu works by using a named pipe to connect to the running Eraser instance. This allows the user to do erasures as an elevated user account even when UAC is on. If the named pipe is blocked or busy, Eraser cannot issue the erase command.
Resolution 1: Retry the erase operation. It is reported that the problem is spurious and occurs randomly.
Cause 2: Code bug in trunk (operator precedence); the conditions needed are that when a task completes or when a task is added when Eraser is at the Settings page instead of the Scheduler page. The operation succeeds when Eraser is at the Scheduler page.
Resolution 2: Fixed in r1490. Use a nightly build later than that revision to have the fix.
Symptom: Eraser uses up all free space on disk when erasing unused space
Causes: This has been the technique used for Eraser 5 as well. The deletion of the temporary files also occur in the same way Eraser 5 does the deletion. The delay is thus suspected to be locked by indexing services or antivirus programmes. Measures have been taken to reduce this probability but the problem still exists
Resolution: Delete the temporary folder Eraser uses for erasing unused space. This can be found in the root of the drive with randomly named files of a relatively constant size (usually two sizes, one greater than 100MB and the other set 1KB is size or less)
Nightly builds can be obtained from the
Eraser Download Page. Do note that nightly builds are highly volatile and while it may fix your problem new ones may have been introduced during the process. You are encouraged to join the
Eraser Beta Testers group and post to the Beta Testers forum if you experience problems with the nightlies.
Some users have commented on the new design of Eraser 6 as well, and the discussion has taken place
here. Questions about the new design and/or comments should be placed in that thread.
Thank you for trying the new version of Eraser, and updates will be made through the edits on this post. You are encouraged to monitor this post for updates if you experience any of the aforementioned problems.
