diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index 2b674ce3c..35f019dd6 100644
--- a/appveyor.yml
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
   branches:
     only:
     - master
+    - appveyorTest
+    - /visual*/
   environment:
     matrix:
     - COMPILER: "gcc"
diff --git a/build/VS2008/fullbench/fullbench.vcproj b/build/VS2008/fullbench/fullbench.vcproj
index 55f784977..996ee26a9 100644
--- a/build/VS2008/fullbench/fullbench.vcproj
+++ b/build/VS2008/fullbench/fullbench.vcproj
@@ -397,7 +397,7 @@
 				>
 			</File>
 			<File
-				RelativePath="..\..\..\programs\bench.c"
+				RelativePath="..\..\..\programs\benchfn.c"
 				>
 			</File>
 			<File
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@
 				>
 			</File>
 			<File
-				RelativePath="..\..\..\tests\util.c"
+				RelativePath="..\..\..\programs\util.c"
 				>
 			</File>
 			<File
diff --git a/build/VS2008/zstd/zstd.vcproj b/build/VS2008/zstd/zstd.vcproj
index 7584636f3..d738be565 100644
--- a/build/VS2008/zstd/zstd.vcproj
+++ b/build/VS2008/zstd/zstd.vcproj
@@ -337,7 +337,11 @@
 				>
 			</File>
 			<File
-				RelativePath="..\..\..\programs\bench.c"
+				RelativePath="..\..\..\programs\benchfn.c"
+				>
+			</File>
+			<File
+				RelativePath="..\..\..\programs\benchzstd.c"
 				>
 			</File>
 			<File
diff --git a/programs/fileio.c b/programs/fileio.c
index a5460ba2d..9fb795ed3 100644
--- a/programs/fileio.c
+++ b/programs/fileio.c
@@ -423,16 +423,29 @@ static FILE* FIO_openDstFile(const char* srcFileName, const char* dstFileName)
         return stdout;
     }
 
+    /* ensure dst is not the same file as src */
     if (srcFileName != NULL) {
+#ifdef _MSC_VER
+        /* note : Visual does not support file identification by inode.
+         *        The following work-around is limited to detecting exact name repetition only,
+         *        aka `filename` is considered different from `subdir/../filename` */
+        if (!strcmp(srcFileName, dstFileName)) {
+            DISPLAYLEVEL(1, "zstd: Refusing to open a output file which will overwrite the input file \n");
+            return NULL;
+        }
+#else
         stat_t srcStat;
         stat_t dstStat;
-        if ( UTIL_getFileStat(srcFileName, &srcStat)
-          && UTIL_getFileStat(dstFileName, &dstStat) ) {
-            if ( srcStat.st_dev == dstStat.st_dev
-              && srcStat.st_ino == dstStat.st_ino ) {
+        if (UTIL_getFileStat(srcFileName, &srcStat)
+            && UTIL_getFileStat(dstFileName, &dstStat)) {
+            if (srcStat.st_dev == dstStat.st_dev
+                && srcStat.st_ino == dstStat.st_ino) {
                 DISPLAYLEVEL(1, "zstd: Refusing to open a output file which will overwrite the input file \n");
                 return NULL;
-    }   }   }
+            }
+        }
+#endif
+    }
 
     if (g_sparseFileSupport == 1) {
         g_sparseFileSupport = ZSTD_SPARSE_DEFAULT;
diff --git a/programs/platform.h b/programs/platform.h
index 155ebcd1e..1a8f97bc4 100644
--- a/programs/platform.h
+++ b/programs/platform.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #    define _CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE /* VS2005 - must be declared before <io.h> and <windows.h> */
 #    define snprintf sprintf_s       /* snprintf unsupported by Visual <= 2013 */
 #  endif
+#  pragma warning(disable : 4127)    /* disable: C4127: conditional expression is constant */
 #endif
 
 
diff --git a/programs/windres/zstd32.res b/programs/windres/zstd32.res
index 2c2b9b01e..843499254 100644
Binary files a/programs/windres/zstd32.res and b/programs/windres/zstd32.res differ
diff --git a/programs/windres/zstd64.res b/programs/windres/zstd64.res
index 4a37157ea..da859810f 100644
Binary files a/programs/windres/zstd64.res and b/programs/windres/zstd64.res differ
diff --git a/tests/playTests.sh b/tests/playTests.sh
index 051833b43..ef4861b52 100755
--- a/tests/playTests.sh
+++ b/tests/playTests.sh
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ $ZSTD --fast=9999999999 -f tmp  && die "should have refused numeric value"
 $ECHO "test : set compression level with environment variable ZSTD_CLEVEL"
 ZSTD_CLEVEL=12  $ZSTD -f tmp # positive compression level
 ZSTD_CLEVEL=-12 $ZSTD -f tmp # negative compression level
-ZSTD_CLEVEL=+12 $ZSTD -f tmp # valid: verbose '+' sign 
+ZSTD_CLEVEL=+12 $ZSTD -f tmp # valid: verbose '+' sign
 ZSTD_CLEVEL=    $ZSTD -f tmp # empty env var, warn and revert to default setting
 ZSTD_CLEVEL=-   $ZSTD -f tmp # malformed env var, warn and revert to default setting
 ZSTD_CLEVEL=a   $ZSTD -f tmp # malformed env var, warn and revert to default setting
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ ZSTD_CLEVEL=+a  $ZSTD -f tmp # malformed env var, warn and revert to default set
 ZSTD_CLEVEL=3a7 $ZSTD -f tmp # malformed env var, warn and revert to default setting
 ZSTD_CLEVEL=50000000000  $ZSTD -f tmp # numeric value too large, warn and revert to default setting
 $ECHO "test : override ZSTD_CLEVEL with command line option"
-ZSTD_CLEVEL=12  $ZSTD --fast=3 -f tmp # overridden by command line option 
+ZSTD_CLEVEL=12  $ZSTD --fast=3 -f tmp # overridden by command line option
 $ECHO "test : compress to stdout"
 $ZSTD tmp -c > tmpCompressed
 $ZSTD tmp --stdout > tmpCompressed       # long command format
@@ -192,8 +192,8 @@ chmod 400 tmpro.zst
 $ZSTD -q tmpro && die "should have refused to overwrite read-only file"
 $ZSTD -q -f tmpro
 $ECHO "test: --no-progress flag"
-$ZSTD tmpro -c --no-progress | $ZSTD -d -o "$INTOVOID" --no-progress
-$ZSTD tmpro -cv --no-progress | $ZSTD -dv -o "$INTOVOID" --no-progress
+$ZSTD tmpro -c --no-progress | $ZSTD -d -f -o "$INTOVOID" --no-progress
+$ZSTD tmpro -cv --no-progress | $ZSTD -dv -f -o "$INTOVOID" --no-progress
 rm -f tmpro tmpro.zst
 $ECHO "test: overwrite input file (must fail)"
 $ZSTD tmp -fo tmp && die "zstd compression overwrote the input file"
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ rm tmp*
 $ECHO "test : compress multiple files"
 $ECHO hello > tmp1
 $ECHO world > tmp2
-$ZSTD tmp1 tmp2 -o "$INTOVOID"
+$ZSTD tmp1 tmp2 -o "$INTOVOID" -f
 $ZSTD tmp1 tmp2 -c | $ZSTD -t
 $ZSTD tmp1 tmp2 -o tmp.zst
 test ! -f tmp1.zst
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ test ! -f tmp2.zst
 $ZSTD tmp1 tmp2
 $ZSTD -t tmp1.zst tmp2.zst
 $ZSTD -dc tmp1.zst tmp2.zst
-$ZSTD tmp1.zst tmp2.zst -o "$INTOVOID"
+$ZSTD tmp1.zst tmp2.zst -o "$INTOVOID" -f
 $ZSTD -d tmp1.zst tmp2.zst -o tmp
 touch tmpexists
 $ZSTD tmp1 tmp2 -f -o tmpexists