heuristics
Home > Software Quality Definitions - Heuristics
SearchSoftwareQuality.com Definitions (Powered by WhatIs.com)
EMAIL THIS
LOOK UP TECH TERMS Powered by: WhatIs.com
Search listings for thousands of IT terms:
Browse tech terms alphabetically:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

heuristics



Digg This!    StumbleUpon Toolbar StumbleUpon    Bookmark with Delicious Del.icio.us   

DEFINITION - Heuristics is the application of experience-derived knowledge to a problem and is sometimes used to describe software that screens and filters out messages likely to contain a computer virus or other undesirable content. A heuristic (pronounced hyu-RIS-tik and from the Greek "heuriskein" meaning "to discover") is a "rule-of-thumb." Heuristics software looks for known sources, commonly-used text phrases, and transmission or content patterns that experience has shown to be associated with e-mail containing viruses.

Because many companies or users receive a large volume of e-mail and because legitimate e-mail may also fall into the pattern, heuristics software sometimes results in many "false positives," discouraging its use. Security experts note that, although such software needs to get better, it is a valuable and necessary tool.

CONTRIBUTORS: Tom Pappalardo
LAST UPDATED: 08 Jun 2007

Read more about heuristics:
- VNUNet offers an article, "Heuristics is the way forward."
- Symantec has a white paper called "Understanding Heuristics: Symantec's Bloodhound Technology."
- SearchSecurity.com offers a number of white papers related to virus detection and other security topics.


Do you have something to add to this definition? Let us know.
Send your comments to techterms@whatis.com


Digg This!    StumbleUpon Toolbar StumbleUpon    Bookmark with Delicious Del.icio.us   


RELATED CONTENT
Manage component dependencies for improved system quality
Too much coupling of code within a system makes the system hard to understand, integrate, extend, and test. By managing dependencies, you can prevent...
Survey: Agile interest high, but waterfall still used by many
While there's a strong interest in new software development techniques, SearchSoftwareQuality.com's recent survey found that many still follow...
Continuous integration reduces bugs, increases productivity
Development teams can use continuous integration (CI) to find and fix bugs, share knowledge, and generally work better together, says Agile coach...

RELATED GLOSSARY TERMS
Terms from Whatis.com − the technology online dictionary
build tool  (SearchSoftwareQuality.com)
A build tool is a programming utility that automates a software build task, such as ensuring that the proper source code files are compiled and that...
development environment  (SearchSoftwareQuality.com)
In computer program and software product development, the development environment is the set of processes and programming tools used to create the...




About Us  |  Contact Us  |  For Advertisers  |  For Business Partners  |  Site Index  |  RSS
SEARCH 
TechTarget provides enterprise IT professionals with the information they need to perform their jobs - from developing strategy, to making cost-effective IT purchase decisions and managing their organizations' IT projects - with its network of technology-specific Web sites, events and magazines.

TechTarget Corporate Web Site  |  Media Kits  |  Reprints  |  Site Map




All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2006 - 2008, TechTarget | Read our Privacy Policy
  TechTarget - The IT Media ROI Experts