Definition: Heuristics uses past experience to make educated guesses about the present. Using rules and decisions based on analysis of past network or email traffic, heuristic scanning in antivirus software can self-learn and use artifical intelligence to attempt to block viruses or worms that are not yet known about and for which the antivirus software does not yet have a filter to detect or block.
Heuristic
From Tony Bradley, CISSP-ISSAP, former About.com Guide
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