diff --git a/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaCrawlWorker.java b/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaCrawlWorker.java
index 74be6fb14..fbe38eef8 100644
--- a/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaCrawlWorker.java
+++ b/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaCrawlWorker.java
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ public final class plasmaCrawlWorker extends Thread {
         this.log = log;
     }
 
-    public void execute(plasmaCrawlLoaderMessage theMsg) {
+    public synchronized void execute(plasmaCrawlLoaderMessage theMsg) {
         this.theMsg = theMsg;
         
         this.url = theMsg.url;
diff --git a/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaSearch.java b/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaSearch.java
index b8fa12748..9f06370ed 100644
--- a/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaSearch.java
+++ b/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaSearch.java
@@ -301,10 +301,15 @@ public class plasmaSearch {
 	Enumeration e = searchResult.elements(true);
 	plasmaWordIndexEntry entry;
         long startCreateTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
-	while ((e.hasMoreElements()) &&
-	       ((acc.sizeFetched() < minEntries) || (System.currentTimeMillis() - startCreateTime < maxTime))) {
-	    entry = (plasmaWordIndexEntry) e.nextElement();
-	    acc.addResult(entry);
+	try {
+	    while ((e.hasMoreElements()) &&
+		   ((acc.sizeFetched() < minEntries) || (System.currentTimeMillis() - startCreateTime < maxTime))) {
+		entry = (plasmaWordIndexEntry) e.nextElement();
+		acc.addResult(entry);
+	    }
+	} catch (kelondroException ee) {
+	    serverLog.logError("PLASMA", "Database Failure during plasmaSearch.order: " + ee.getMessage());
+	    ee.printStackTrace();
 	}
         long startSortTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
         acc.sortResults();
diff --git a/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaSwitchboard.java b/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaSwitchboard.java
index 76a3775d4..f6ab7987d 100644
--- a/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaSwitchboard.java
+++ b/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaSwitchboard.java
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ public class plasmaSwitchboard extends serverAbstractSwitch implements serverSwi
 
 
     // load slots
-    private static final int crawlSlots = 6;
+    private static final int crawlSlots = 8;
 
     // couloured list management
     public static TreeSet blueList = null;
@@ -411,19 +411,17 @@ public class plasmaSwitchboard extends serverAbstractSwitch implements serverSwi
     public boolean deQueue() {
 	// work off fresh entries from the proxy or from the crawler
 
-	synchronized (processStack) {
-	    if (processStack.size() == 0) return false; // noting to do
-	    
-	    // in case that the server is very busy we do not work off the queue too fast
-	    if (serverJobs > 10) try {Thread.currentThread().sleep(10 * serverJobs);} catch (InterruptedException e) {}
-	    
-	    // do one processing step
-	    log.logDebug("DEQUEUE: serverJobs=" + serverJobs +
-			 ", processStack=" + processStack.size() +
-			 ", localStackSize=" + noticeURL.localStackSize() +
-			 ", remoteStackSize=" + noticeURL.remoteStackSize());
-	    processResourceStack((plasmaHTCache.Entry) processStack.removeFirst());
-	}
+	if (processStack.size() == 0) return false; // nothing to do
+	
+	// in case that the server is very busy we do not work off the queue too fast
+	if (serverJobs > 10) try {Thread.currentThread().sleep(10 * serverJobs);} catch (InterruptedException e) {}
+	
+	// do one processing step
+	log.logDebug("DEQUEUE: serverJobs=" + serverJobs +
+		     ", processStack=" + processStack.size() +
+		     ", localStackSize=" + noticeURL.localStackSize() +
+		     ", remoteStackSize=" + noticeURL.remoteStackSize());
+	processResourceStack((plasmaHTCache.Entry) processStack.removeFirst());
 	return true;
     }
     
diff --git a/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaWordIndexRAMCache.java b/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaWordIndexRAMCache.java
index 36c93f33d..77245d015 100644
--- a/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaWordIndexRAMCache.java
+++ b/source/de/anomic/plasma/plasmaWordIndexRAMCache.java
@@ -171,15 +171,15 @@ public class plasmaWordIndexRAMCache extends Thread {
 	return flushKey(key, "flushSpecific");
     }
     
-    private synchronized int flushKey(String key, String caller) throws IOException {
-	Vector v = (Vector) cache.get(key);
-	if (v == null) {
-	    //serverLog.logDebug("PLASMA INDEXING", "flushKey: '" + caller + "' forced to flush non-existing key " + key);
-	    return 0;
+    private int flushKey(String key, String caller) throws IOException {
+	Vector v = null;
+	synchronized (cache) {
+	    v = (Vector) cache.get(key);
+	    if (v == null) return 0; // flushing of nonexisting key
+	    cache.remove(key);
+	    hashScore.deleteScore(key);
 	}
 	pic.addEntriesToIndex(key, v);
-	cache.remove(key);
-	hashScore.deleteScore(key);
 	return v.size();
     }