diff --git a/src/class_outgoingSynSender.py b/src/class_outgoingSynSender.py
index af9e5dd2..f7074b65 100644
--- a/src/class_outgoingSynSender.py
+++ b/src/class_outgoingSynSender.py
@@ -59,7 +59,24 @@ class outgoingSynSender(threading.Thread):
                 address_family = socket.AF_INET
             else:
                 address_family = socket.AF_INET6
-            sock = socks.socksocket(address_family, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+            try:
+                sock = socks.socksocket(address_family, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
+            except:
+                """
+                The line can fail on Windows systems which aren't
+                64-bit compatiable:
+                      File "C:\Python27\lib\socket.py", line 187, in __init__
+                        _sock = _realsocket(family, type, proto)
+                      error: [Errno 10047] An address incompatible with the requested protocol was used
+                      
+                So let us remove the offending address from our knownNodes file.
+                """
+                shared.knownNodesLock.acquire()
+                del shared.knownNodes[self.streamNumber][peer]
+                shared.knownNodesLock.release()
+                with shared.printLock:
+                    print 'deleting ', peer, 'from shared.knownNodes because it caused a socks.socksocket exception. We must not be 64-bit compatible.'
+                continue
             # This option apparently avoids the TIME_WAIT state so that we
             # can rebind faster
             sock.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1)
diff --git a/src/class_receiveDataThread.py b/src/class_receiveDataThread.py
index f52c0b8b..127f18a4 100644
--- a/src/class_receiveDataThread.py
+++ b/src/class_receiveDataThread.py
@@ -622,6 +622,10 @@ class receiveDataThread(threading.Thread):
                     continue
             else:
                 hostFromAddrMessage = socket.inet_ntop(socket.AF_INET6, fullHost)
+                if hostFromAddrMessage == "":
+                    # This can happen on Windows systems which are not 64-bit compatible 
+                    # so let us drop the IPv6 address. 
+                    continue
                 if not self._checkIPv6Address(fullHost, hostFromAddrMessage):
                     continue
             timeSomeoneElseReceivedMessageFromThisNode, = unpack('>Q', data[lengthOfNumberOfAddresses + (