Configuring Heuristics

Heuristics? It does not mean running in panicky circles. But it plays a role in virus detection because of two factors:

Viruses are created all the time - over twenty new ones each day
Even if your antivirus program checks for virussignature updates very frequently, there is still some risk that you can catch a virus before your antivirus company creates a signature for it.

Most viruses exhibit predictable behavior patterns
There are a number of things that most viruses do that the antivirus companies are very familiar with.

These two factors have led the antivirus companies to employ a new way of detecting viruses - by carefully observing the Windows operating system for the typical patterns that most viruses exhibit. For instance, many viruses attempt to attach themselves to program files. The antivirus program can watch for this type of behavior and block it. This method detects viruses by observing their effects, as opposed to checking files for matches against the virus-signature file.

If the antivirus program you are using has such a heuristics setting, it would be a good idea to turn it on. You never know when you might be unfortunate enough to catch a virus, especially one that is so new that your antivirus maker has not made an entry for your signature file yet. Heuristics can make your computer much safer.

When a new virus is released, many people fall victim before the virus is captured by any of the antivirus companies. Anyone can be such a target, and heuristics is the only thing available to stop new viruses. Or, you could just turn off your computer.