diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0686c4180..685ee8c42 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -34,3 +34,6 @@ Makefile
 .cproject
 .project
 .settings/
+
+# WinMerge
+.bak
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 261215014..d15b4303e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -47,7 +47,11 @@ endif()
 find_package(Freetype REQUIRED)
 find_package(FreeImage REQUIRED)
 find_package(SDL2 REQUIRED)
+if(MSVC)
+find_package(Boost REQUIRED COMPONENTS system date_time locale)
+else()
 find_package(Boost REQUIRED COMPONENTS system filesystem date_time locale)
+endif()
 find_package(Eigen3 REQUIRED)
 find_package(CURL REQUIRED)
 find_package(VLC REQUIRED)
@@ -81,9 +85,14 @@ if(CMAKE_COMPILER_IS_GNUCXX)
     endif()
 
     #set up compiler flags for GCC
+if (CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE MATCHES Debug)
+	set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++11 -Wno-attributes -O0") #support C++11 for std::, optimize
+    set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS "${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS} -O0")
+else()
     set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -std=c++11 -Wno-attributes -O3") #support C++11 for std::, optimize
     set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS "${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS} -O3")  #-s = strip binary
 endif()
+endif()
 
 if(${GLSystem} MATCHES "Desktop OpenGL")
     add_definitions(-DUSE_OPENGL_DESKTOP)
diff --git a/es-core/src/Util.cpp b/es-core/src/Util.cpp
index 34be52494..8d8810425 100644
--- a/es-core/src/Util.cpp
+++ b/es-core/src/Util.cpp
@@ -102,8 +102,13 @@ fs::path resolvePath(const fs::path& path, const fs::path& relativeTo, bool allo
 
 fs::path removeCommonPathUsingStrings(const fs::path& path, const fs::path& relativeTo, bool& contains)
 {
+#ifdef WIN32
+	std::wstring pathStr = path.c_str();
+	std::wstring relativeToStr = relativeTo.c_str();
+#else
 	std::string pathStr = path.c_str();
 	std::string relativeToStr = relativeTo.c_str();
+#endif
 	if (pathStr.find_first_of(relativeToStr) == 0) {
 		contains = true;
 		return pathStr.substr(relativeToStr.size() + 1);
diff --git a/es-core/src/platform.cpp b/es-core/src/platform.cpp
index 31127a9ca..04d02b98f 100644
--- a/es-core/src/platform.cpp
+++ b/es-core/src/platform.cpp
@@ -84,7 +84,13 @@ int quitES(const std::string& filename)
 
 void touch(const std::string& filename)
 {
+#ifdef WIN32
+	FILE* fp = fopen(filename.c_str(), "ab+");
+	if (fp != NULL)
+		fclose(fp);
+#else
 	int fd = open(filename.c_str(), O_CREAT|O_WRONLY, 0644);
 	if (fd >= 0)
 		close(fd);
+#endif
 }
\ No newline at end of file