I was working on a alpha layer of a large documentary project.
(this was only one example test layer to see if i could get octane to render an animation together with cinema 4d this time,
I like your windows crash advice, but i also think you are correct to say that "it should not happen at all"
it crashed about 23 to 24 times during this short 360 frames render. (my computer hardware details below).
iy's a verely simple scene, + simple camera movement with only 2 keyframes.
example file attached below.
http://vimeo.com/25734769