diff --git a/gitignore_plugin.py b/gitignore_plugin.py
index 4273dea..df85eb1 100644
--- a/gitignore_plugin.py
+++ b/gitignore_plugin.py
@@ -3,29 +3,37 @@
 import os
 import os.path
 import threading
+import platform
 from time import sleep
 
 # Used for output suppression when calling subprocess functions; see
 # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10251391/suppressing-output-in-python-subprocess-call
 devnull = open(os.devnull, 'w')
 
+# Used to prevent a new command prompt window from popping up every time a new
+# process is spawned on Windows. See
+# https://docs.python.org/2/library/subprocess.html#subprocess.STARTUPINFO
+if platform.system() == 'Windows':
+    startupinfo = subprocess.STARTUPINFO()
+    startupinfo.dwFlags = subprocess.STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW
+    startupinfo.wShowWindow = subprocess.SW_HIDE
+else:
+    startupinfo = None
+
 def start(): # Gets invoked at the bottom of this file.
     """
     Regularly (every 5s) updates the file_exclude_patterns setting from a
     background thread.
-    """
+    """    
     if is_first_launch():
         migrate_exclude_patterns()
         record_first_launch()
     
     def run():
-        while True:
-            update_file_exclude_patterns()
-            sleep(5)
-            
-    thread = threading.Thread(target=run)
-    thread.daemon = True
-    thread.start()
+        update_file_exclude_patterns()
+        sublime.set_timeout(run, 5000)
+
+    run()
 
 def update_file_exclude_patterns():
     """
@@ -39,11 +47,22 @@ def update_file_exclude_patterns():
     file_exclude_patterns = s.get('extra_file_exclude_patterns', [])
     folder_exclude_patterns = s.get('extra_folder_exclude_patterns', [])
     for path in all_ignored_paths():
-        if os.path.isdir(path):
-            folder_exclude_patterns.append(path.rstrip(u'/'))
+        is_directory = os.path.isdir(path)
+        if platform.system() == 'Windows':
+            # For some bizarre reason Sublime wants all its filenames to look like
+            #     C/somedir/somefile
+            # instead of
+            #     C:\somedir\somefile
+            # as they are normally written on Windows, and will not understand the
+            # latter at all. All the other functions in this file return paths with
+            # OS-standard separtors and include the colon after the drive letter on
+            # Windows, so we need to convert them here to Sublime-format.
+            path = windows_path_to_sublime_path(path)
+        if is_directory:
+            folder_exclude_patterns.append(path)
         else:
             file_exclude_patterns.append(path)
-    
+
     new_files = set(file_exclude_patterns)
     old_files = set(s.get('file_exclude_patterns', []))
     new_folders = set(folder_exclude_patterns)
@@ -52,8 +71,8 @@ def update_file_exclude_patterns():
     # Only make changes if anything has actually changed, to avoid spamming the
     # sublime console
     if new_files != old_files or new_folders != old_folders:        
-        s.set('file_exclude_patterns', file_exclude_patterns)
-        s.set('folder_exclude_patterns', folder_exclude_patterns)
+        s.set('file_exclude_patterns', list(file_exclude_patterns))
+        s.set('folder_exclude_patterns', list(folder_exclude_patterns))
         sublime.save_settings("Preferences.sublime-settings")
 
 def all_ignored_paths():
@@ -91,7 +110,7 @@ def folder_ignored_paths(folder):
     # find the .git folder of the repo containing it:
     if is_in_git_repo(folder):
         repos.add(parent_repo_path(folder))
-    
+
     # Now we find all the ignored paths in any of the above repos
     for git_repo in repos:
         ignored_paths = repo_ignored_paths(git_repo)
@@ -108,7 +127,8 @@ def is_in_git_repo(folder):
         ["git", "rev-parse", "--is-inside-work-tree"],
         cwd=folder,
         stdout=devnull,
-        stderr=devnull
+        stderr=devnull,
+        startupinfo=startupinfo
     )
     
     return exit_code == 0
@@ -119,11 +139,17 @@ def parent_repo_path(folder):
     parent repo.
     """
     
-    return subprocess.Popen(
-        ['git', 'rev-parse', '--show-toplevel'],
-        stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-        cwd=folder
-    ).stdout.read().decode('utf-8', 'ignore').strip()
+    # abspath call converts forward slashes to backslashes on Windows; we do
+    # this wherever necessary to keep the format of our paths standardised on
+    # Windows.
+    return os.path.abspath(
+        subprocess.Popen(
+            ['git', 'rev-parse', '--show-toplevel'],
+            stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+            cwd=folder,
+            startupinfo=startupinfo
+        ).stdout.read().decode('utf-8', 'ignore').strip()
+    )
 
 def find_git_repos(folder):
     """
@@ -145,7 +171,8 @@ def repo_ignored_paths(git_repo):
     command_output = subprocess.Popen(
         ['git', 'clean', '-ndX'],
         stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-        cwd=git_repo
+        cwd=git_repo,
+        startupinfo=startupinfo
     ).stdout.read()
     
     command_output = command_output.decode('utf-8', 'ignore')
@@ -157,8 +184,9 @@ def repo_ignored_paths(git_repo):
     # Each line in `lines` now looks something like:
     # "Would remove foo/bar/yourfile.txt"
     
-    relative_paths = [line.replace(u'Would remove ', u'', 1) for line in lines]
-    absolute_paths = [git_repo + u'/' + path for path in relative_paths]
+    relative_paths = [line.replace(u'Would remove ', u'', 1).rstrip(u'/')
+                      for line in lines]
+    absolute_paths = [os.path.join(git_repo, path) for path in relative_paths]
     
     return absolute_paths
     
@@ -182,5 +210,20 @@ def record_first_launch():
     s = sublime.load_settings("gitignorer.sublime-settings")
     s.set('_sublime_gitignorer_has_run', True)
     sublime.save_settings("gitignorer.sublime-settings")
+
+def windows_path_to_sublime_path(path):
+    """
+    Removes the colon after the drive letter and replaces backslashes with
+    slashes.
+
+    e.g.
+
+        windows_path_to_sublime_path("C:\somedir\somefile")
+        == "C/somedir/somefile"
+    """
+
+    assert(path[1] == u':')
+    without_colon = path[0] + path[2:]
+    return without_colon.replace(u'\\', u'/')
     
 start()
\ No newline at end of file