In a NOR-type flash memory of either the ETOX or virtual ground type that is programmed using electron injection and erased using FN tunneling, and that has row redundancy, the typical sequence of operations used for an embedded sector erase, namely the Preprogram, Preprogram Verify, Erase, Erase Verify, Post-Program Verify, and Post-Program operations, need not be performed for the data cells on bad or shorted rows or in unused redundant rows. Instead, the bad or shorted rows or the unused redundant rows are suitably biased so that the threshold voltages of the data cells in these rows tend to converge to a threshold voltage near the UV erased threshold.