diff --git a/src/ctx.cpp b/src/ctx.cpp
index fb5420dd..6d6242ec 100644
--- a/src/ctx.cpp
+++ b/src/ctx.cpp
@@ -31,9 +31,13 @@
 #include "msg.hpp"
 
 #if defined ZMQ_HAVE_WINDOWS
-#include "windows.h"
+#ifndef WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
+#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
+#endif
+#include <winsock2.h>
+#include <windows.h>
 #else
-#include "unistd.h"
+#include <unistd.h>
 #endif
 
 zmq::ctx_t::ctx_t (uint32_t io_threads_) :
diff --git a/src/select.cpp b/src/select.cpp
index 35d8bd87..891bde15 100644
--- a/src/select.cpp
+++ b/src/select.cpp
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 #include <algorithm>
 
 #ifdef ZMQ_HAVE_WINDOWS
-#include "winsock2.h"
+#include <winsock2.h>
 #elif defined ZMQ_HAVE_HPUX
 #include <sys/param.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
diff --git a/src/select.hpp b/src/select.hpp
index c88dd713..17ebd3f5 100644
--- a/src/select.hpp
+++ b/src/select.hpp
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 #include <vector>
 
 #ifdef ZMQ_HAVE_WINDOWS
-#include "winsock2.h"
+#include <winsock2.h>
 #elif defined ZMQ_HAVE_OPENVMS
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/time.h>
diff --git a/src/windows.hpp b/src/windows.hpp
index 51338755..fadee61d 100644
--- a/src/windows.hpp
+++ b/src/windows.hpp
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
 // The purpose of this header file is to turn on only the items actually needed
 // on the windows platform.
 
-#define _WINSOCKAPI_
 #ifndef NOMINMAX
 #define NOMINMAX // No min and max functions, these clash with C++.
 #endif
@@ -50,11 +49,10 @@
 #ifdef WINVER
 #undef WINVER
 #endif
+//  Default to Windows Server 2003, Windows XP
 #define WINVER 0x0501
 #endif
 
-#include <windows.h>
-
 //  MSVC++ 2005 on Win2000 does not define _WIN32_WINNT.
 #ifndef _WIN32_WINNT
 #define _WIN32_WINNT WINVER
@@ -68,6 +66,7 @@
 #include <winsock.h>
 #endif
 
+#include <windows.h>
 #include <ws2tcpip.h>
 #include <ipexport.h>
 #include <process.h>