diff --git a/grids/image_stack.h b/grids/image_stack.h
index a03a9f2..f70f8f5 100644
--- a/grids/image_stack.h
+++ b/grids/image_stack.h
@@ -33,7 +33,13 @@ public:
 		}
 
 		//get the list of files
-		std::vector<stim::filename> file_list = file_path.get_list();
+		std::vector<stim::filename> file_list;// = file_path.get_list
+
+		//if there are no matching files, exit
+		if(file_list.size() == 0){
+			std::cout<<"STIM ERROR (image_stack): No matching files for loading a stack."<<std::endl;
+			exit(1);
+		}
 
 		//load the first image and set all of the image_stack properties
 		stim::image<T> I(file_list[0].str());
diff --git a/parser/filename.h b/parser/filename.h
index 21a168b..dc6b4da 100644
--- a/parser/filename.h
+++ b/parser/filename.h
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #define STIM_FILENAME_H
 
 #include <stdio.h>  /* defines FILENAME_MAX */
-#ifdef WINDOWS
+#ifdef _WIN32
     #include <direct.h>
     #define GetCurrentDir _getcwd
 	#define STIM_FILENAME_DIV '\\'
--
libgit2 0.21.4