Elephantware. That’s what download.com calls them: programs that, like tanks, pull you down with the undertow and slow your PC to a crawl, causing it to freeze up while you’re in mid-sentence.

You don’t want them, you don’t need them, and you can get rid of them and replace them with friendlier less bulky counterparts. So what are they?

Here’s a list of the top five most annoying elephantware programs:

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It’s just another day as you slide into your seat and hit the start button on your computer. You guzzle coffee as you wait for your system to start up, and bam! Your stomach drops as you stare at the deep indigo colored screen. It’s not a folk tale, it’s not an urban legend…it’s the blue screen of death. (BSOD) Yikes. There goes your day.

We all know that it’s common sense to stay away from funny looking email. If you don’t know who sent it, don’t open it. It’s a great concept, in theory. In fact, lots of us with itchy, trigger-happy fingers have opened email titled ILOVEYOU only to be bitten by the love bug. Ouch. Let’s take a look at some of the worst network attacks of all time.

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Information Security is a concern for every company, no matter how big or how small. 

Knowing what information typically is traversing your company’s network is critical to knowing when something out of the ordinary occurs. 

Monitoring your network enables you to be aware of many things including degradation or fluctuations in performance, overall network health and stability, and security.

When it comes to network monitoring tools, there are many choices ranging from free to commercial, open-source to proprietary. The range of functionality they provide also varies from packet capturing tools to full-blown network monitoring applications that can show the health of all devices on your network in real-time.

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