diff --git a/examples/chat/cmd_websocket_chat.cpp b/examples/chat/cmd_websocket_chat.cpp
index b52d9a19..513b7d8c 100644
--- a/examples/chat/cmd_websocket_chat.cpp
+++ b/examples/chat/cmd_websocket_chat.cpp
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include <sstream>
 #include <queue>
 #include <ixwebsocket/IXWebSocket.h>
+#include <ixwebsocket/IXSocket.h>
 
 #include "nlohmann/json.hpp"
 
@@ -160,11 +161,9 @@ namespace
 
     void interactiveMain()
     {
-        std::string user(getenv("USER"));
-
-        WebSocketChat webSocketChat(user);
-
+        std::string user("foo");
         std::cout << "Type Ctrl-D to exit prompt..." << std::endl;
+        WebSocketChat webSocketChat(user);
         webSocketChat.start();
 
         while (true)
@@ -188,6 +187,9 @@ namespace
 
 int main()
 {
+    std::cout << "main starting" << std::endl;
+    Socket::init();
+    std::cout << "socket initialized" << std::endl;
     interactiveMain();
     return 0;
 }
diff --git a/ixwebsocket/IXSocket.cpp b/ixwebsocket/IXSocket.cpp
index 148aa5c5..2aac873f 100644
--- a/ixwebsocket/IXSocket.cpp
+++ b/ixwebsocket/IXSocket.cpp
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 
+#include <algorithm>
+
 //
 // Linux/Android has a special type of virtual files. select(2) will react
 // when reading/writing to those files, unlike closing sockets.
@@ -155,7 +157,7 @@ namespace ix
 
 #ifdef _WIN32
         unsigned long nonblocking = 1;
-        ioctlsocket(fd, FIONBIO, &nonblocking);
+        ioctlsocket(_sockfd, FIONBIO, &nonblocking);
 #else
         fcntl(_sockfd, F_SETFL, O_NONBLOCK); // make socket non blocking
 #endif
@@ -184,7 +186,7 @@ namespace ix
 #endif
 
         int sockfd = _sockfd;
-        int nfds = std::max(sockfd, _eventfd);
+        int nfds = (std::max)(sockfd, _eventfd);
         select(nfds + 1, &rfds, nullptr, nullptr, nullptr);
 
         onPollCallback();
@@ -261,7 +263,7 @@ namespace ix
         flags = MSG_NOSIGNAL;
 #endif
 
-        return (int) ::recv(_sockfd, buffer, length, flags);
+        return (int) ::recv(_sockfd, (char*) buffer, length, flags);
     }
 
     int Socket::getErrno() const
@@ -279,6 +281,18 @@ namespace ix
 	closesocket(fd);
 #else
         ::close(fd);
+#endif
+    }
+
+    // FIXME: need finalize
+    bool Socket::init()
+    {
+#ifdef _WIN32
+        INT rc;
+        WSADATA wsaData;
+        
+        rc = WSAStartup(MAKEWORD(2, 2), &wsaData);
+        return rc != 0;
 #endif
     }
 }
diff --git a/ixwebsocket/IXSocket.h b/ixwebsocket/IXSocket.h
index b7c9e15e..80486953 100644
--- a/ixwebsocket/IXSocket.h
+++ b/ixwebsocket/IXSocket.h
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ namespace ix
         Socket();
         virtual ~Socket();
 
+	static bool init();
+
         int hostname_connect(const std::string& hostname,
                              int port,
                              std::string& errMsg);
diff --git a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketTransport.cpp b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketTransport.cpp
index 41efedd7..9f02fa90 100644
--- a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketTransport.cpp
+++ b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketTransport.cpp
@@ -19,8 +19,9 @@
 # endif
 #endif
 
-#include <unistd.h>
+// #include <unistd.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
 
 #include <cstdlib>
 #include <vector>
@@ -272,7 +273,7 @@ namespace ix {
                 {
                     int N = (int) _rxbuf.size();
 
-                    ssize_t ret;
+                    int ret;
                     _rxbuf.resize(N + 1500);
                     ret = _socket->recv((char*)&_rxbuf[0] + N, 1500);