[The_Scout]

We've experienced some of the same problems with the PartyPoker software, and we've have a lot of experience trying to keep it running. Based on that, we've come up with a couple of tips that seem to help.

Disclaimers: I am far from being a computer whiz, and this is just ad hoc knowledge. Also, this is based on trying to keep the Party lobby running without actually playing, so we haven't dealt with any problems associated with opening tables. And lastly, these problems were confirmed to occur on multiple computers, but they were all single-core Dell Windows XP machines.

OK, here are the main things that cause us problems:

1. The NL Hold'em tab is the Tab of Death. When you are on that tab, your chances of a freeze/hang are much higher.

2. The Party lobby has a tendency to randomly spawn additional processes when you click on stuff. The processes (including the original one) are all named "PartyGaming.exe." We've had as many as 4 PartyGaming.exe processes running at once. I have no idea what the other 3 are doing since only one lobby is open.

Here are some tips that may help:

A. Keep the task manager open to the processes and sort them alphabeticaly. If you see multiple PartyGaming.exe processes, find some time to restart the software. This is not usually urgent, but it will cause a problem eventually. When you close the lobby, only one of the processes will go away. You have to kill the other ones in the task manager.

B. If you see the Mem Usage for PartyGaming.exe start to escalate beyond normal, find some time for a restart. This is more urgent. Normal usage for us has been in the range of 30-50K. 70-80K or higher is a sign of trouble. Again, when you close the lobby make sure all PartyGaming.exe processes are killed.

C. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE. If you start up the lobby on the NLH tab, your chances of a crash in the first half-hour are much, much higher. Before you close the lobby, click on another tab (it will remember the tab you selected next time you boot up). Every time you start the software, look at what tab is selected. If it's the NLH tab, click on another tab and close the lobby, then restart it. I can't emphasize enough how much the average running time of the lobby has been increased by never starting up on the NLH tab. Also, you might not want to stay on the NLH tab while you're playing unless you have to.

Remember the disclaimers, and take it FWIW. YMMV.

I'd be interested to hear any other tips people have for keeping the software running.