6. The method of claim 1 further comprising applying a policy to the textual data to determine a violation of the policy based on the textual data.
1. A method for monitoring text-based communications to secure a computer, comprising: identifying a type of software application associated with a presentation of text-based communications on a display associated with the computer; determining if a heuristic exists for the type of software application, wherein the heuristic is one of a plurality of heuristics each associated with a respective software application; defining at least one portion of the computer display that is associated with the text-based communications using the heuristic based at least in part on the type of software application; and examining the at least one portion of the computer display to identify textual data within the text-based communications.