Patent ID: 8296301

Claim:
A computer system comprising: a filesystem configured to store a plurality of computer files in a computer memory; a plurality of scanning agents implemented on one or more computer processors, wherein the plurality of scanning agents are configured to traverse the filesystem and compile attributes and content indexes about the plurality of computer files wherein the attributes and content indexes are stored in one or more databases that are stored separately from the filesystem; and a file classifier comprising one or more computer processors, wherein the file classifier is configured to receive user input wherein the user selects a first set of attributes and content indexes from the one or more databases stored separately from a corresponding first set of computer files in the filesystem, wherein the file classifier is configured to analyze the user input to determine a set of classification rules such that the classification rules are derived from accessing the first set of the attributes and content indexes in the one or more databases stored separately from the corresponding first set of computer files stored in the filesystem, wherein the set of classification rules are derived without directly accessing the first set of computer files stored in the filesystem, wherein the file classifier is further configured to classify a second set of computer files stored in the filesystem without accessing the filesystem based on a calculated probability derived from a corresponding second set of attributes and context indexes in the one or more databases stored separately from the filesystem.