diff --git a/README.windows.txt b/README.windows.txt
index 86be90726..a6d043077 100644
--- a/README.windows.txt
+++ b/README.windows.txt
@@ -3,22 +3,12 @@ Requirements
 
 You can build on Windows using either:
 
-* vc6 (Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0)
-	plus PlatformSDK 2003
-	plus DXSDK 8.1
-
-* vc7 (Microsoft Visual C++ 2003)
-	you might have to set the correct DXSDK include and library directories
-	professional edition required to compile resources
-
 * vc9 (Microsoft Visual C++ 2008)
 	you might have to set the correct DXSDK include and library directories
 	professional edition required to compile resources
 
-* MinGW
-	plus MSYS (or any other shell that can run configure and make)
+* MinGW and MSYS
 	plus DXSDK 9 (if you want DirectX support)
-	this is currently only tested by crosscompiling from Linux.
 
 NoNetwork
 =========
@@ -30,25 +20,42 @@ the "NoNetwork" configurations only.
 Notes for MinGW
 ===============
 
-To build using MinGW, you need from http://www.mingw.org/:
- * MinGW-5.1.3.exe (or newer)
- * MSYS-1.0.10.exe
+You need gcc, g++, mingw-runtime, w32api, msys, msyscore, autoconf, automake, and any packages needed by these.
+These versions are known to work, though newer versions are probably also good.
 
-With MinGW-*.exe, install from the "current" distribution the MinGW base tools
-and g++, the C++ compiler. Then install msys.
+http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=200665&filename=tdm-mingw-1.905.0-webdl.exe&a=64029035
+(from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=200665&package_id=238465)
+(see also http://www.tdragon.net/recentgcc/)
+- The default options work. Use an installation path without spaces to be on the save side.
 
-You also need the MSYS DTK, Autoconf 2.6x and Automake 1.10.x. You might need
-to build the last two from source.
+http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=2435&filename=MSYS-1.0.11-20090120-dll.tar.gz&a=78351117
+http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=2435&filename=msysCORE-1.0.11-20080826.tar.gz&a=60784616
+(from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2435&package_id=24963)
+- extract these into the same directory as installed above, merging the directory contents
+- create a shortcut to msys.bat
+
+http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=2435&filename=perl-5.6.1-MSYS-1.0.11-1.tar.bz2&a=91743036
+http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=2435&filename=crypt-1.1-1-MSYS-1.0.11-1.tar.bz2&a=95002722
+http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=2435&filename=autoconf2.5-2.61-1-bin.tar.bz2&a=93276645
+http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=2435&filename=automake1.10-1.10-1-bin.tar.bz2&a=66135072
+http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=2435&filename=autoconf-4-1-bin.tar.bz2&a=70428585
+http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=2435&filename=automake-3-1-bin.tar.bz2&a=12881354
+(from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2435&package_id=67879)
+- you need to extract these from the msys shell with tar (other methods won't work):
+  cd /
+  tar -xjf /path/to/downloads/*.bz2
+
+TODO: Various libraries are also needed
 
 If you want DirectX support, get a DirectX 9 SDK from Microsoft. Copy the
 contents of its include dir to the include dir of your MinGW installation,
 and pass --with-directx to configure below.
 
-Open a shell (the MSYS one under windows), cd to this directory, and execute:
+Start msys, cd to this directory, and execute:
 
-  autoreconf -i && ./configure && make
+  autoconf && automake -a && ./configure && make
 
-To use g++ version 4.3 or newer, you need to pass 'CXX=g++ -std=gnu++0x'
+To use g++ version 4.3 or newer, you need to pass CXX='g++ -std=gnu++0x'
 to configure. g++ version 4.2 is not able to compile Clonk.
 
 To compile a debugbuild, pass --enable-debug to configure. Other options are
diff --git a/autotools/reftotemp.m4 b/autotools/reftotemp.m4
index 3825e5b84..63d4e7c98 100644
--- a/autotools/reftotemp.m4
+++ b/autotools/reftotemp.m4
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ dnl Copyright (C) 2009 Günther Brammer
 AC_DEFUN([AX_PROG_CXX_REFTOTEMP],
 [
   AC_LANG_ASSERT([C++])
-  AC_CACHE_CHECK([wether the C++ compiler is  friendly], [ax_cv_reftotemp], [
+  AC_CACHE_CHECK([wether the C++ compiler is friendly], [ax_cv_reftotemp], [
     AC_COMPILE_IFELSE([
 struct Foo {
     operator Foo & () { return *this; }
@@ -18,6 +18,6 @@ int main () {
 }
 ], [ax_cv_reftotemp=yes], [ax_cv_reftotemp=no])])
   if test $ax_cv_reftotemp = no; then
-    AC_MSG_ERROR([The C++ compiler won't be able to compile Clonk. Try 'CXX=g++-4.1'.])
+    AC_MSG_ERROR([The C++ compiler won't be able to compile Clonk. Try CXX='g++ -std=gnu++0x' or CXX='g++-4.1'.])
   fi[]dnl
 ])# AX_PROG_CXX_REFTOTEMP