Tick

Updated: 09/10/2024 by Computer Hope

A tick may refer to any of the following:

Red X's and green check marks.

1. A tick, also sometimes called a jiffy, is a small unit of time. A tick determines the correct time and date on a computer. With computers and other hardware, a tick is a single increment in the internal clock or system clock. With an operating system, a tick determines time and may be 1 second, 100 ns (nanoseconds), or other measurement depending on the operating system. See our epoch page for further information on system ticks.

Tip

With some systems and hardware, a tick may also be called a heartbeat or heartbeat signal. In addition to these signals helping with time they may also be used to help keep everything synchronized.

2. A tick is also a way of saying check in a check box, which is also sometimes called a tick box. For further help and information about these checkboxes and how they're used see the check box page.

Epoch, FPS, Measurements, Software terms, Time