diff --git a/src/core/net-nonblock.c b/src/core/net-nonblock.c
index e1d99fd8..73260381 100644
--- a/src/core/net-nonblock.c
+++ b/src/core/net-nonblock.c
@@ -103,11 +103,11 @@ int net_gethostbyname_nonblock(const char *addr, GIOChannel *pipe)
 		errorstr = NULL;
 	} else {
 		errorstr = net_gethosterror(rec.error);
-		rec.errlen = strlen(errorstr)+1;
+		rec.errlen = errorstr == NULL ? 0 : strlen(errorstr)+1;
 	}
 
         g_io_channel_write_block(pipe, &rec, sizeof(rec));
-	if (rec.error != 0)
+	if (rec.errlen != 0)
 		g_io_channel_write_block(pipe, (void *) errorstr, rec.errlen);
 
 #ifndef WIN32
diff --git a/src/fe-text/irssi.c b/src/fe-text/irssi.c
index dd567f28..a7e91274 100644
--- a/src/fe-text/irssi.c
+++ b/src/fe-text/irssi.c
@@ -223,10 +223,27 @@ static void check_files(void)
         g_free(path);
 }
 
+#ifdef WIN32
+static void winsock_init(void)
+{
+	WORD wVersionRequested;
+	WSADATA wsaData;
+
+	wVersionRequested = MAKEWORD(2, 2);
+
+	if (WSAStartup(wVersionRequested, &wsaData) != 0) {
+		printf("Error initializing winsock\n");
+		exit(1);
+	}
+}
+#endif
+
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	check_files();
-
+#ifdef WIN32
+        winsock_init();
+#endif
 #ifdef HAVE_SOCKS
 	SOCKSinit(argv[0]);
 #endif