diff --git a/include/libtorrent/session.hpp b/include/libtorrent/session.hpp
index 5070ef3f8..e142b4f3b 100755
--- a/include/libtorrent/session.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/session.hpp
@@ -82,6 +82,21 @@ namespace libtorrent
 
 	namespace detail
 	{
+		// workaround for microsofts
+		// hardware exceptions that makes
+		// it hard to debug stuff
+#if defined(WIN32) && !defined(NDEBUG)
+		struct eh_initializer
+		{
+			eh_initializer()
+			{ _set_se_translator(straight_to_debugger); }
+
+			static void straight_to_debugger(unsigned int, EXCEPTION_POINTERS*)
+			{ throw; }
+		};
+#else
+		struct eh_initializer {};
+#endif
 
 		// this data is shared between the main thread and the
 		// thread that initialize pieces
@@ -178,7 +193,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 
 	std::string extract_fingerprint(const peer_id& p);
 
-	class session: public boost::noncopyable
+	class session: public boost::noncopyable, detail::eh_initializer
 	{
 	public:
 
diff --git a/src/session.cpp b/src/session.cpp
index 1304316f7..ed163aadf 100755
--- a/src/session.cpp
+++ b/src/session.cpp
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 	{
 		void checker_impl::operator()()
 		{
+			eh_initializer();
 			for (;;)
 			{
 				piece_checker_data* t;
@@ -176,6 +177,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 
 		void session_impl::operator()()
 		{
+			eh_initializer();
 #if defined(TORRENT_VERBOSE_LOGGING)
 			m_logger = create_log("main session");
 #endif