diff --git a/jstests/run_program1.js b/jstests/run_program1.js
index 267568b9b91..7984a342647 100644
--- a/jstests/run_program1.js
+++ b/jstests/run_program1.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-if (runProgram('uname') == 0) { //test for a unixy environment (includes cygwin tools)
+if ( ! _isWindows() ) {
     
     // note that normal program exit returns 0
     assert.eq (0, runProgram('true'))
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@ if (runProgram('uname') == 0) { //test for a unixy environment (includes cygwin
     // numbers can be passed as numbers or strings
     runProgram('sleep', 0.5);
     runProgram('sleep', '0.5');
-}
 
-if (runProgram('ver') == 0) { //on windows
+} else {
+
     runProgram('echo', 'Hello', 'World.', 'How   are   you?');
 }
diff --git a/shell/utils.cpp b/shell/utils.cpp
index fdd3856d7c1..76eae38f385 100644
--- a/shell/utils.cpp
+++ b/shell/utils.cpp
@@ -600,6 +600,15 @@ namespace mongo {
 #endif
             return BSON( "" << double( r ) / ( double( RAND_MAX ) + 1 ) );
         }
+
+        BSONObj isWindows(const BSONObj& a){
+            uassert( 13006, "isWindows accepts no arguments", a.nFields() == 0 );
+#ifdef _WIN32
+            return BSON( "" << true );
+#else
+            return BSON( "" << false );
+#endif
+        }
         
         void installShellUtils( Scope& scope ){
             scope.injectNative( "sleep" , JSSleep );
@@ -607,6 +616,8 @@ namespace mongo {
             scope.injectNative( "getMemInfo" , JSGetMemInfo );
             scope.injectNative( "_srand" , JSSrand );
             scope.injectNative( "_rand" , JSRand );
+            scope.injectNative( "_isWindows" , isWindows );
+
 #ifndef MONGO_SAFE_SHELL
             //can't launch programs
             scope.injectNative( "_startMongoProgram", StartMongoProgram );