diff --git a/db/db.cpp b/db/db.cpp
index 01a61ad07c4..f7d1a4a4f79 100644
--- a/db/db.cpp
+++ b/db/db.cpp
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include "../util/unittest.h"
 #include "../util/file_allocator.h"
 #include "../util/background.h"
+#include "../util/text.h"
 #include "dbmessage.h"
 #include "instance.h"
 #include "clientcursor.h"
@@ -1045,7 +1046,7 @@ namespace mongo {
     void myterminate() {
         rawOut( "terminate() called, printing stack:" );
         printStackTrace();
-        abort();
+        ::abort();
     }
 
     void setupSignals_ignoreHelper( int signal ) {}
@@ -1114,19 +1115,67 @@ namespace mongo {
         }
     }
 
+    LPTOP_LEVEL_EXCEPTION_FILTER filtLast = 0;
+    ::HANDLE standardOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
+    LONG WINAPI exceptionFilter(struct _EXCEPTION_POINTERS *ExceptionInfo) { 
+        {
+            // given the severity of the event we write to console in addition to the --logFile
+            // (rawOut writes to the logfile, if a special one were specified)
+            DWORD written;
+            WriteFile(standardOut, "unhandled exception\n", 20, &written, 0);
+            FlushFileBuffers(standardOut);
+        }
+
+        DWORD ec = ExceptionInfo->ExceptionRecord->ExceptionCode;
+        if( ec == EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION ) {
+            rawOut("access violation");
+        } 
+        else {
+            rawOut("unhandled exception");
+            char buf[64];
+            strcpy(buf, "ec=0x");
+            _ui64toa(ec, buf+5, 16);
+            rawOut(buf);
+        }
+        if( filtLast ) 
+            return filtLast(ExceptionInfo);
+        return EXCEPTION_EXECUTE_HANDLER;
+    }
+
+    // called by mongoAbort()
+    extern void (*reportEventToSystem)(const char *msg);
+    void reportEventToSystemImpl(const char *msg) { 
+        static ::HANDLE hEventLog = RegisterEventSource( NULL, TEXT("mongod") );
+        if( hEventLog ) { 
+            std::wstring s = toNativeString(msg);
+            LPCTSTR txt = s.c_str();
+            BOOL ok = ReportEvent(
+              hEventLog, EVENTLOG_ERROR_TYPE, 
+              0, 0, NULL,
+              1, 
+              0, 
+              &txt,
+              0);
+            wassert(ok);
+        }
+    }
+
     void myPurecallHandler() {
-        rawOut( "pure virtual method called, printing stack:" );
         printStackTrace();
-        abort();
+        mongoAbort("pure virtual");
     }
 
     void setupSignals( bool inFork ) {
+        reportEventToSystem = reportEventToSystemImpl;
+        filtLast = SetUnhandledExceptionFilter(exceptionFilter);
+
         if( SetConsoleCtrlHandler( (PHANDLER_ROUTINE) CtrlHandler, TRUE ) )
             ;
         else
-            massert( 10297 , "Couldn't register Windows Ctrl-C handler", false);
+            msgasserted( 10297 , "Couldn't register Windows Ctrl-C handler" );
         _set_purecall_handler( myPurecallHandler );
     }
+
 #endif
 
 } // namespace mongo
diff --git a/db/dur.cpp b/db/dur.cpp
index 75538b32fe6..a7915286dab 100644
--- a/db/dur.cpp
+++ b/db/dur.cpp
@@ -516,19 +516,19 @@ namespace mongo {
            }
            catch(DBException& e ) {
                log() << "dbexception in groupCommitLL causing immediate shutdown: " << e.toString() << endl;
-               abort();
+               mongoAbort("dur1");
            }
            catch(std::ios_base::failure& e) {
                log() << "ios_base exception in groupCommitLL causing immediate shutdown: " << e.what() << endl;
-               abort();
+               mongoAbort("dur2");
            }
            catch(std::bad_alloc& e) {
                log() << "bad_alloc exception in groupCommitLL causing immediate shutdown: " << e.what() << endl;
-               abort();
+               mongoAbort("dur3");
            }
            catch(std::exception& e) {
                log() << "exception in dur::groupCommitLL causing immediate shutdown: " << e.what() << endl;
-               abort();
+               mongoAbort("dur4");
            }
            return false;
        }
@@ -602,19 +602,19 @@ namespace mongo {
             }
             catch(DBException& e ) { 
                 log() << "dbexception in groupCommit causing immediate shutdown: " << e.toString() << endl;
-                abort();
+                mongoAbort("gc1");
             }
             catch(std::ios_base::failure& e) { 
                 log() << "ios_base exception in groupCommit causing immediate shutdown: " << e.what() << endl;
-                abort();
+                mongoAbort("gc2");
             }
             catch(std::bad_alloc& e) { 
                 log() << "bad_alloc exception in groupCommit causing immediate shutdown: " << e.what() << endl;
-                abort();
+                mongoAbort("gc3");
             }
             catch(std::exception& e) {
                 log() << "exception in dur::groupCommit causing immediate shutdown: " << e.what() << endl;
-                abort(); // based on myTerminate()
+                mongoAbort("gc4");
             }
         }
 
@@ -695,7 +695,7 @@ namespace mongo {
                 }
                 catch(std::exception& e) {
                     log() << "exception in durThread causing immediate shutdown: " << e.what() << endl;
-                    abort(); // based on myTerminate()
+                    mongoAbort("exception in durThread");
                 }
             }
             cc().shutdown();
diff --git a/db/dur.h b/db/dur.h
index 5917e8e8e7e..93106ccc617 100644
--- a/db/dur.h
+++ b/db/dur.h
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ namespace mongo {
 
     class NamespaceDetails;
 
+    void mongoAbort(const char *msg);
+    void abort(); // not defined -- use mongoAbort() instead
+
     namespace dur {
 
         // a smaller limit is likely better on 32 bit
diff --git a/db/instance.cpp b/db/instance.cpp
index 51604f7203e..f1022f0d606 100644
--- a/db/instance.cpp
+++ b/db/instance.cpp
@@ -220,6 +220,15 @@ namespace mongo {
         return ok;
     }
 
+    void (*reportEventToSystem)(const char *msg) = 0;
+
+    void mongoAbort(const char *msg) { 
+        if( reportEventToSystem ) 
+            reportEventToSystem(msg);
+        rawOut(msg);
+        ::abort();
+    }
+
     // Returns false when request includes 'end'
     void assembleResponse( Message &m, DbResponse &dbresponse, const HostAndPort& remote ) {
 
@@ -755,7 +764,7 @@ namespace mongo {
                     }
                     if( --n <= 0 ) {
                         log() << "shutdown: couldn't acquire write lock, aborting" << endl;
-                        abort();
+                        mongoAbort("couldn't acquire write lock");
                     }
                     log() << "shutdown: waiting for write lock..." << endl;
                 }
diff --git a/dbtests/framework.cpp b/dbtests/framework.cpp
index bb96279d97a..92b40e4fd5f 100644
--- a/dbtests/framework.cpp
+++ b/dbtests/framework.cpp
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ namespace mongo {
 
                     if (minutesRunning > 30){
                         log() << currentTestName << " has been running for more than 30 minutes. aborting." << endl;
-                        abort();
+                        ::abort();
                     }
                     else if (minutesRunning > 1){
                         warning() << currentTestName << " has been running for more than " << minutesRunning-1 << " minutes." << endl;
@@ -422,4 +422,5 @@ namespace mongo {
     }
 
     void setupSignals( bool inFork ) {}
+
 }
diff --git a/tools/restore.cpp b/tools/restore.cpp
index 9a18c00e93a..4f1e5968632 100644
--- a/tools/restore.cpp
+++ b/tools/restore.cpp
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ public:
                 cerr << "Error creating index " << o["ns"].String();
                 cerr << ": " << err["code"].Int() << " " << err["err"].String() << endl;
                 cerr << "To resume index restoration, run " << _name << " on file" << _fileName << " manually." << endl;
-                abort();
+                ::abort();
             }
         }
         else {
diff --git a/util/concurrency/race.h b/util/concurrency/race.h
index 0b8338c4333..9080124f27c 100644
--- a/util/concurrency/race.h
+++ b/util/concurrency/race.h
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ namespace mongo {
         void fail() { 
             log() << "synchronization (race condition) failure" << endl;
             printStackTrace();
-            abort();
+            ::abort();
         }
         void enter() { 
             if( ++n != 1 ) fail();
diff --git a/util/log.cpp b/util/log.cpp
index eb7a848cabf..40cea136035 100644
--- a/util/log.cpp
+++ b/util/log.cpp
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 #include "pch.h"
 #include "assert_util.h"
 #include "assert.h"
-//#include "file.h"
 #include <cmath>
 using namespace std;
 
@@ -28,7 +27,7 @@ using namespace std;
 #include <sys/file.h>
 #endif
 
-#include "../db/jsobj.h"
+//#include "../db/jsobj.h"
 
 namespace mongo {
 
@@ -84,7 +83,7 @@ namespace mongo {
 
             if ( _file ) {
 #ifdef _WIN32
-                cout << "log rotation doesn't work on windows" << endl;
+                cout << "log rotation net yet supported on windows" << endl;
                 return;
 #else
                 struct tm t;
@@ -135,4 +134,3 @@ namespace mongo {
     FILE* Logstream::logfile = stdout;
 
 }
-
diff --git a/util/log.h b/util/log.h
index de8969315f4..53fc0de7987 100644
--- a/util/log.h
+++ b/util/log.h
@@ -431,7 +431,6 @@ namespace mongo {
     string errnoWithPrefix( const char * prefix );
 
     void Logstream::logLockless( const StringData& s ) {
-
         if ( s.size() == 0 )
             return;