1. A method of capturing data in a computer network including the steps of: (a) designating a plurality of areas of computer memory as buffers, wherein each of the plurality of buffers is associated with a status flag; (b) receiving a data packet; (c) receiving a second data packet; (d) writing the data packets to a buffer; (e) modifying the status flag of the buffer in dependence on the contents of the buffer; (f) monitoring the status flag of the buffer; (g) writing the contents of the buffer to persistent computer memory in dependence on the status flag of the buffer.