Works great for me, under Linux. I haven't noticed any problems with bfgminer 3.1.2 crashing or taking 100% CPU. Maybe the problem could be isolated to Windows?
Compiled my entire Bitcoin stack from source, on Gentoo:
bitcoin 0.8.3 (bitcoin-qt target)
p2pool 13.1 (no compilation needed, it's a Python program which is interpreted)
bfgminer 3.1.2
I rather like bfgminer, it follows the "configure" standard, and drops right in! Rather impressive.
Even the Satoshi bitcoin client wasn't this cleanly written, as it still required a little tweaking before it would compile:
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-7344252.html#7344252Command lines I've been using for the stack, which mines on my little Erupter:
#!/bin/sh
cd "YourDirectoryHere/bitcoin-0.8.3"
./bitcoin-qt -min -splash=0 -server -debug -printtoconsole
#!/bin/sh
cd "YourDirectoryHere/bfgminer-3.1.2"
/usr/local/bin/bfgminer \
--coinbase-addr 1JUZr4TZ5zuB4WdEv4mrhZMaM7yttpJvLG \
--queue=0 \
--disable-gpu \
-S all \
-O P2Pool:P2Pool \
-o http://localhost:9332/
#!/bin/sh
cd "YourDirectoryHere/forrestv-p2pool-83256e8"
python run_p2pool.py -a 1JUZr4TZ5zuB4WdEv4mrhZMaM7yttpJvLG --outgoing-conns 10
If scripting, be sure to change "cd" commands to the directories you are using on your system (it is critically important to start from the correct directory for p2pool).
And, you probably want to change your payout address accordingly
Josh