The problem is likely a memory error elsewhere in your code. A few tips... You should use a deque as it is more optimized for removing and inserting on the ends.

Use .at() instead of [] notation. This will throw exceptions which are good for debugging. In release mode you can use [] again resulting in a small optimization.

Here is a way to write two of your functions a bit more clearly / cleanly.

Particle *ParticleHandler::getNewParticle() {

    particleArray.push_back(Particle());

    return &particleArray.back();
}

void ParticleHandler::removeParticle(int index) {

    if(index < particleArray.size() - 1)
        particleArray.at(index) = particleArray.back();

    particleArray.pop_back();
}

My vote goes for ixilom! Very pretty and ambitious.

I managed to track down that nasty little memory bug I had. I was holding on to a pointer to an object in a vector while I was adding stuff to the vector, so that when it got resized, the pointer was left dangling... silly.

Here is the latest (and last, this is getting silly now ) version if anyone is interested It now has a fairly pretty "glow"-effect, motion blur, cheap reflective water (just a mirrored/stretched background) and a cheesy backdrop

Plenty of screenshots attached.

EDIT: I wonder if it's more effecient to store the particles as pointers in the vector, and take the cache hits or just do as I do now and take the heavier moving of memory instead.

I put my vote on Jonatan

Resolution fail. Cant even see the top of the window (and I'm at 1280*1024, which afaik, is not considered tiny).

1 for Ixilom