diff --git a/CHECKLST.txt b/CHECKLST.txt
index 522892ee..608d578e 100644
--- a/CHECKLST.txt
+++ b/CHECKLST.txt
@@ -21,9 +21,11 @@ The resource files:
  - putty/windows/puttygen.rc
     + the copyright date appears twice, once in the About box and
       once in the Licence box. Don't forget to change both!
- - putty/windows/win_res.rc
+ - putty/windows/win_res.rc2
     + the copyright date appears twice, once in the About box and
       once in the Licence box. Don't forget to change both!
+ - putty/windows/version.rc2
+    + the copyright date appears once only.
  - putty/mac/mac_res.r
     + the copyright date appears twice, once in the About box and
       once in the Licence box. Don't forget to change both!
@@ -70,8 +72,13 @@ and again in a subsequent comment):
 
  - putty/windows/putty.iss
 
+The Windows resource file (used to generate the binary bit of the
+VERSIONINFO resources -- the strings are supplied by the usual means):
+
+ - putty/windows/version.rc2 (BASE_VERSION; NB, _comma_-separated)
+
 The Mac resource file (used to generate the binary bit of the 'vers'
-resources -- the strings are supplied by the usual means):
+resources):
 
  - putty/mac/version.r
 
@@ -114,7 +121,8 @@ of the tag.
 
  - Build the Windows/x86 release binaries. Don't forget to supply
    VER=/DRELEASE=<ver>. Run them, or at least one or two of them, to
-   ensure that they really do report their version number correctly.
+   ensure that they really do report their version number correctly,
+   and sanity-check the version info reported on the files by Windows.
     + Save the release link maps. Currently I keep these on ixion,
       in src/putty/local/maps-<version>.
 
diff --git a/Recipe b/Recipe
index 6b9f200f..457e7b66 100644
--- a/Recipe
+++ b/Recipe
@@ -36,9 +36,9 @@
 #
 # Extra options you can set:
 #
-#  - VER=/DSNAPSHOT=1999-01-25
+#  - VER="/DSNAPSHOT=1999-01-25 /DSVN_REV=1234"
 #      Generates executables whose About box report them as being a
-#      development snapshot.
+#      development snapshot. SVN_REV is a Subversion revision number.
 #
 #  - VER=/DRELEASE=0.43
 #      Generates executables whose About box report them as being a
@@ -127,27 +127,23 @@ version.obj: *.c *.h *.rc
 !specialobj vc version
 !begin cygwin
 version.o: FORCE
-FORCE:
 	$(CC) $(COMPAT) $(XFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(VER) -c ../version.c
 !end
 !specialobj cygwin version
 !begin borland
 version.obj: FORCE
-FORCE:
 	bcc32 $(VER) $(CFLAGS) /c ..\version.c
 !end
 !specialobj borland version
 !begin lcc
 version.obj: FORCE
-FORCE:
 	lcc $(VER) $(CFLAGS) /c ..\version.c
 !end
 !specialobj lcc version
 # For Unix, we also need the gross MD5 hack that causes automatic
 # version number selection in release source archives.
 !begin gtk
-version.o: FORCE;
-FORCE:
+version.o: FORCE
 	if test -z "$(VER)" && (cd ..; md5sum -c manifest); then \
 		$(CC) $(COMPAT) $(XFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) `cat ../version.def` -c ../version.c; \
 	else \
@@ -156,6 +152,30 @@ FORCE:
 !end
 !specialobj gtk version
 
+# Add VER to Windows resource targets, and force them to be rebuilt every
+# time, on the assumption that they will contain version information.
+!begin vc vars
+RCFLAGS = $(RCFLAGS) $(VER)
+!end
+!begin cygwin vars
+# XXX GNU-ism, but it's probably all right for a Cygwin/MinGW Makfile.
+RCFLAGS += $(patsubst -D%,--define %,$(VER))
+!end
+!begin borland vars
+# Borland doesn't support +=. This probably shouldn't work, but seems to.
+RCFLAGS = $(RCFLAGS) $(VER)
+!end
+!begin lcc vars
+RCFLAGS += $(VER)
+!end
+!forceobj putty.res
+!forceobj puttytel.res
+!forceobj plink.res
+!forceobj pscp.res
+!forceobj psftp.res
+!forceobj pageant.res
+!forceobj puttygen.res
+
 # `make install' target for Unix.
 !begin gtk
 install:
@@ -249,14 +269,14 @@ BE_NONE  = be_none nocproxy
 # keywords [G] for Windows GUI app, [C] for Console app, [X] for
 # X/GTK Unix app, [U] for command-line Unix app, [M] for Macintosh app.
 
-putty    : [G] GUITERM NONSSH WINSSH BE_ALL WINMISC win_res.res LIBS
-puttytel : [G] GUITERM NONSSH BE_NOSSH WINMISC win_res.res LIBS
+putty    : [G] GUITERM NONSSH WINSSH BE_ALL WINMISC putty.res LIBS
+puttytel : [G] GUITERM NONSSH BE_NOSSH WINMISC puttytel.res LIBS
 plink    : [C] winplink wincons NONSSH WINSSH BE_ALL logging WINMISC
          + plink.res LIBS
 pscp     : [C] pscp winsftp wincons WINSSH BE_SSH SFTP wildcard WINMISC
          + pscp.res LIBS
 psftp    : [C] psftp winsftp wincons WINSSH BE_SSH SFTP wildcard WINMISC
-         + pscp.res LIBS
+         + psftp.res LIBS
 
 pageant  : [G] winpgnt sshrsa sshpubk sshdes sshbn sshmd5 version tree234
          + misc sshaes sshsha winpgntc sshdss sshsh512 winutils winmisc
diff --git a/mkfiles.pl b/mkfiles.pl
index ff468b5f..76e8e8a1 100755
--- a/mkfiles.pl
+++ b/mkfiles.pl
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 #    are hardwired, and also the libraries are fixed. This is
 #    mainly because I was too scared to go anywhere near it.
 #  - sbcsgen.pl is still run at startup.
+#
+# FIXME: no attempt made to handle !forceobj in the project files.
 
 use FileHandle;
 use Cwd;
@@ -52,6 +54,7 @@ while (<IN>) {
   if ($_[0] eq "!srcdir") { push @srcdirs, $_[1]; next; }
   if ($_[0] eq "!makefile" and &mfval($_[1])) { $makefiles{$_[1]}=$_[2]; next;}
   if ($_[0] eq "!specialobj" and &mfval($_[1])) { $specialobj{$_[1]}->{$_[2]} = 1; next;}
+  if ($_[0] eq "!forceobj") { $forceobj{$_[1]} = 1; next; }
   if ($_[0] eq "!begin") {
       if (&mfval($_[1])) {
           $sect = $_[2] ? $_[2] : "end";
@@ -325,7 +328,7 @@ sub deps {
       s/\//$dirsep/g;
       $_ = $prefix . $_;
     } @deps;
-    push @ret, {obj => $x, deps => [@deps]};
+    push @ret, {obj => $x, obj_orig => $i, deps => [@deps]};
   }
   return @ret;
 }
@@ -376,7 +379,7 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'cygwin'}) {
     "#\n# This file was created by `mkfiles.pl' from the `Recipe' file.\n".
     "# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE DIRECTLY; edit Recipe or mkfiles.pl instead.\n";
     # gcc command line option is -D not /D
-    ($_ = $help) =~ s/=\/D/=-D/gs;
+    ($_ = $help) =~ s/([=" ])\/D/\1-D/gs;
     print $_;
     print
     "\n".
@@ -416,8 +419,12 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'cygwin'}) {
                        $objstr . " $libstr", 69), "\n\n";
     }
     foreach $d (&deps("X.o", "X.res.o", $dirpfx, "/", "cygwin")) {
-      print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj}, join " ", @{$d->{deps}})),
-        "\n";
+      if ($forceobj{$d->{obj_orig}}) {
+        printf ("%s: FORCE\n", $d->{obj});
+      } else {
+        print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj},
+                         join " ", @{$d->{deps}})), "\n";
+      }
       if ($d->{obj} =~ /\.res\.o$/) {
 	  print "\t\$(RC) \$(RCFL) \$(RCFLAGS) ".$d->{deps}->[0]." ".$d->{obj}."\n\n";
       } else {
@@ -428,7 +435,8 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'cygwin'}) {
     print $makefile_extra{'cygwin'}->{'end'};
     print "\nclean:\n".
     "\trm -f *.o *.exe *.res.o *.map\n".
-    "\n";
+    "\n".
+    "FORCE:\n";
     select STDOUT; close OUT;
 
 }
@@ -455,7 +463,7 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'borland'}) {
     "#\n# This file was created by `mkfiles.pl' from the `Recipe' file.\n".
     "# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE DIRECTLY; edit Recipe or mkfiles.pl instead.\n";
     # bcc32 command line option is -D not /D
-    ($_ = $help) =~ s/=\/D/=-D/gs;
+    ($_ = $help) =~ s/([=" ])\/D/\1-D/gs;
     print $_;
     print
     "\n".
@@ -465,6 +473,8 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'borland'}) {
     "\n".
     "# C compilation flags\n".
     "CFLAGS = -D_WINDOWS -DWINVER=0x0401\n".
+    "# Resource compilation flags\n".
+    "RCFLAGS = -DNO_WINRESRC_H -DWIN32 -D_WIN32 -DWINVER=0x0401\n".
     "\n".
     "# Get include directory for resource compiler\n".
     "!if !\$d(BCB)\n".
@@ -480,7 +490,7 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'borland'}) {
 	       " /c \$*.c",69)."\n".
     ".rc.res:\n".
     &splitline("\tbrcc32 \$(RCFL) -i \$(BCB)\\include -r".
-      " -DNO_WINRESRC_H -DWIN32 -D_WIN32 -DWINVER=0x0401 \$*.rc",69)."\n".
+      " \$(RCFLAGS) \$*.rc",69)."\n".
     "\n";
     print &splitline("all:" . join "", map { " $_.exe" } &progrealnames("G:C"));
     print "\n\n";
@@ -520,8 +530,12 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'borland'}) {
       print "\n";
     }
     foreach $d (&deps("X.obj", "X.res", $dirpfx, "\\", "borland")) {
-      print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj}, join " ", @{$d->{deps}})),
-        "\n";
+      if ($forceobj{$d->{obj_orig}}) {
+        printf("%s: FORCE\n", $d->{obj});
+      } else {
+        print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj},
+                                 join " ", @{$d->{deps}})), "\n";
+      }
     }
     print "\n";
     print $makefile_extra{'borland'}->{'end'};
@@ -535,7 +549,10 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'borland'}) {
     "\t-del *.pdb\n".
     "\t-del *.rsp\n".
     "\t-del *.tds\n".
-    "\t-del *.\$\$\$\$\$\$\n";
+    "\t-del *.\$\$\$\$\$\$\n".
+    "\n".
+    "FORCE:\n".
+    "\t-rem dummy command\n";
     select STDOUT; close OUT;
 }
 
@@ -560,6 +577,7 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'vc'}) {
       (join " ", map {"-I$dirpfx$_"} @srcdirs) .
       " /D_WINDOWS /D_WIN32_WINDOWS=0x401 /DWINVER=0x401\n".
       "LFLAGS = /incremental:no /fixed\n".
+      "RCFLAGS = -DWIN32 -D_WIN32 -DWINVER=0x0400\n".
       "\n".
       $makefile_extra{'vc'}->{'vars'} .
       "\n".
@@ -592,12 +610,13 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'vc'}) {
 	print "\n";
     }
     foreach $d (&deps("X.obj", "X.res", $dirpfx, "\\", "vc")) {
-	print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj}, join " ", @{$d->{deps}})),
-	  "\n";
+        $extradeps = $forceobj{$d->{obj_orig}} ? ["*.c","*.h","*.rc"] : [];
+        print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj},
+                                 join " ", @$extradeps, @{$d->{deps}})), "\n";
         if ($d->{obj} =~ /.obj$/) {
 	    print "\tcl \$(COMPAT) \$(XFLAGS) \$(CFLAGS) /c ".$d->{deps}->[0],"\n\n";
 	} else {
-	    print "\trc \$(RCFL) -r -DWIN32 -D_WIN32 -DWINVER=0x0400 ".$d->{deps}->[0],"\n\n";
+	    print "\trc \$(RCFL) -r \$(RCFLAGS) ".$d->{deps}->[0],"\n\n";
 	}
     }
     print "\n";
@@ -897,7 +916,7 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'gtk'}) {
     "#\n# This file was created by `mkfiles.pl' from the `Recipe' file.\n".
     "# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE DIRECTLY; edit Recipe or mkfiles.pl instead.\n";
     # gcc command line option is -D not /D
-    ($_ = $help) =~ s/=\/D/=-D/gs;
+    ($_ = $help) =~ s/([=" ])\/D/\1-D/gs;
     print $_;
     print
     "\n".
@@ -935,14 +954,19 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'gtk'}) {
                        $objstr . " $libstr", 69), "\n\n";
     }
     foreach $d (&deps("X.o", undef, $dirpfx, "/", "gtk")) {
-      print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj}, join " ", @{$d->{deps}})),
-          "\n";
+      if ($forceobj{$d->{obj_orig}}) {
+        printf("%s: FORCE\n", $d->{obj});
+      } else {
+        print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj},
+                                 join " ", @{$d->{deps}})), "\n";
+      }
       print &splitline("\t\$(CC) \$(COMPAT) \$(XFLAGS) \$(CFLAGS) -c $d->{deps}->[0]\n");
     }
     print "\n";
     print $makefile_extra{'gtk'}->{'end'};
     print "\nclean:\n".
     "\trm -f *.o". (join "", map { " $_" } &progrealnames("X:U")) . "\n";
+    print "\nFORCE:\n";
     select STDOUT; close OUT;
 }
 
@@ -956,7 +980,7 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'ac'}) {
     "#\n# This file was created by `mkfiles.pl' from the `Recipe' file.\n".
     "# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE DIRECTLY; edit Recipe or mkfiles.pl instead.\n";
     # gcc command line option is -D not /D
-    ($_ = $help) =~ s/=\/D/=-D/gs;
+    ($_ = $help) =~ s/([=" ])\/D/\1-D/gs;
     print $_;
     print
     "\n".
@@ -993,14 +1017,19 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'ac'}) {
                        $objstr . " $libstr", 69), "\n\n";
     }
     foreach $d (&deps("X.o", undef, $dirpfx, "/", "gtk")) {
-      print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj}, join " ", @{$d->{deps}})),
-          "\n";
+      if ($forceobj{$d->{obj_orig}}) {
+        printf("%s: FORCE\n", $d->{obj});
+      } else {
+        print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj},
+                                 join " ", @{$d->{deps}})), "\n";
+      }
       print &splitline("\t\$(CC) \$(COMPAT) \$(XFLAGS) \$(CFLAGS) -c $d->{deps}->[0]\n");
     }
     print "\n";
     print $makefile_extra{'gtk'}->{'end'};
     print "\nclean:\n".
     "\trm -f *.o". (join "", map { " $_" } &progrealnames("X:U")) . "\n";
+    print "\nFORCE:\n";
     select STDOUT; close OUT;
 }
 
@@ -1011,8 +1040,8 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'mpw'}) {
     "# Makefile for $project_name under MPW.\n#\n".
     "# This file was created by `mkfiles.pl' from the `Recipe' file.\n".
     "# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE DIRECTLY; edit Recipe or mkfiles.pl instead.\n";
-    # MPW command line option is -d not /D
-    ($_ = $help) =~ s/=\/D/=-d /gs;
+    # MPW command line option is -d not /D (FIXME further massaging?)
+    ($_ = $help) =~ s/([=" ])\/D/\1-d /gs;
     print $_;
     print "\n\n".
     "ROptions     = `Echo \"{VER}\" | StreamEdit -e \"1,\$ replace /=(\xc5)\xa81\xb0/ 'STR=\xb6\xb6\xb6\xb6\xb6\"' \xa81 '\xb6\xb6\xb6\xb6\xb6\"'\"`".
@@ -1154,7 +1183,7 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'lcc'}) {
     "#\n# This file was created by `mkfiles.pl' from the `Recipe' file.\n".
     "# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE DIRECTLY; edit Recipe or mkfiles.pl instead.\n";
     # lcc command line option is -D not /D
-    ($_ = $help) =~ s/=\/D/=-D/gs;
+    ($_ = $help) =~ s/([=" ])\/D/\1-D/gs;
     print $_;
     print
     "\n".
@@ -1166,6 +1195,8 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'lcc'}) {
     "CFLAGS = -D_WINDOWS " .
       (join " ", map {"-I$dirpfx$_"} @srcdirs) .
       "\n".
+    "# Resource compilation flags\n".
+    "RCFLAGS = \n".
     "\n".
     "# Get include directory for resource compiler\n".
     "\n".
@@ -1185,13 +1216,18 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'lcc'}) {
     }
 
     foreach $d (&deps("X.obj", "X.res", $dirpfx, "\\", "lcc")) {
-      print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj}, join " ", @{$d->{deps}})),
-        "\n";
+      if ($forceobj{$d->{obj_orig}}) {
+         printf("%s: FORCE\n", $d->{obj});
+      } else {
+         print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj},
+                          join " ", @{$d->{deps}})), "\n";
+      }
       if ($d->{obj} =~ /\.obj$/) {
 	  print &splitline("\tlcc -O -p6 \$(COMPAT)".
 			   " \$(XFLAGS) \$(CFLAGS) ".$d->{deps}->[0],69)."\n";
       } else {
-	  print &splitline("\tlrc \$(RCFL) -r ".$d->{deps}->[0],69)."\n";
+          print &splitline("\tlrc \$(RCFL) -r \$(RCFLAGS) ".
+                           $d->{deps}->[0],69)."\n";
       }
     }
     print "\n";
@@ -1199,7 +1235,9 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'lcc'}) {
     print "\nclean:\n".
     "\t-del *.obj\n".
     "\t-del *.exe\n".
-    "\t-del *.res\n";
+    "\t-del *.res\n".
+    "\n".
+    "FORCE:\n";
 
     select STDOUT; close OUT;
 }
@@ -1214,7 +1252,7 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'osx'}) {
     "#\n# This file was created by `mkfiles.pl' from the `Recipe' file.\n".
     "# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE DIRECTLY; edit Recipe or mkfiles.pl instead.\n";
     # gcc command line option is -D not /D
-    ($_ = $help) =~ s/=\/D/=-D/gs;
+    ($_ = $help) =~ s/([=" ])\/D/\1-D/gs;
     print $_;
     print
     "CC = \$(TOOLPATH)gcc\n".
@@ -1263,8 +1301,12 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'osx'}) {
                        $objstr . " $libstr", 69), "\n\n";
     }
     foreach $d (&deps("X.o", undef, $dirpfx, "/")) {
-      print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj}, join " ", @{$d->{deps}})),
-          "\n";
+      if ($forceobj{$d->{obj_orig}}) {
+         printf("%s: FORCE\n", $d->{obj});
+      } else {
+         print &splitline(sprintf("%s: %s", $d->{obj},
+                                  join " ", @{$d->{deps}})), "\n";
+      }
       $firstdep = $d->{deps}->[0];
       if ($firstdep =~ /\.c$/) {
 	  print "\t\$(CC) \$(COMPAT) \$(FWHACK) \$(XFLAGS) \$(CFLAGS) -c \$<\n";
@@ -1274,8 +1316,10 @@ if (defined $makefiles{'osx'}) {
     }
     print "\n".$makefile_extra{'osx'}->{'end'};
     print "\nclean:\n".
-    "\trm -f *.o *.dmg". (join "", map { " $_" } &progrealnames("U")) . "\n";
+    "\trm -f *.o *.dmg". (join "", map { " $_" } &progrealnames("U")) . "\n".
     "\trm -rf *.app\n";
+    "\n".
+    "FORCE:\n";
     select STDOUT; close OUT;
 }
 
diff --git a/windows/pageant.rc b/windows/pageant.rc
index 1e613d07..0102ca21 100644
--- a/windows/pageant.rc
+++ b/windows/pageant.rc
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 
 #include "rcstuff.h"
 
+#define APPNAME "Pageant"
+#define APPDESC "PuTTY SSH authentication agent"
+
 200 ICON "pageant.ico"
 201 ICON "pageants.ico"
 
@@ -85,6 +88,8 @@ BEGIN
 
 END
 
+#include "version.rc2"
+
 #ifndef NO_MANIFESTS
 1 RT_MANIFEST "pageant.mft"
 #endif /* NO_MANIFESTS */
diff --git a/windows/plink.rc b/windows/plink.rc
index 2c2cacaf..5282907d 100644
--- a/windows/plink.rc
+++ b/windows/plink.rc
@@ -1 +1,8 @@
+#include "rcstuff.h"
+
+#define APPNAME "Plink"
+#define APPDESC "Command-line SSH, Telnet, and Rlogin client"
+
 200 ICON "putty.ico"
+
+#include "version.rc2"
diff --git a/windows/pscp.rc b/windows/pscp.rc
index bc1fec14..f9932451 100644
--- a/windows/pscp.rc
+++ b/windows/pscp.rc
@@ -1,2 +1,8 @@
+#include "rcstuff.h"
+
+#define APPNAME "PSCP"
+#define APPDESC "Command-line SCP/SFTP client"
+
 200 ICON "pscp.ico"
 
+#include "version.rc2"
diff --git a/windows/psftp.rc b/windows/psftp.rc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6b39531e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/windows/psftp.rc
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#include "rcstuff.h"
+
+#define APPNAME "PSFTP"
+#define APPDESC "Command-line interactive SFTP client"
+
+200 ICON "pscp.ico"
+
+#include "version.rc2"
diff --git a/windows/putty.rc b/windows/putty.rc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9cfd43d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/windows/putty.rc
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#include "rcstuff.h"
+
+#define APPNAME "PuTTY"
+#define APPDESC "SSH, Telnet and Rlogin client"
+
+#include "win_res.rc2"
+
+#ifndef NO_MANIFESTS
+1 RT_MANIFEST "putty.mft"
+#endif /* NO_MANIFESTS */
diff --git a/windows/puttygen.rc b/windows/puttygen.rc
index 94acd61e..629b155b 100644
--- a/windows/puttygen.rc
+++ b/windows/puttygen.rc
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 
 #include "rcstuff.h"
 
+#define APPNAME "PuTTYgen"
+#define APPDESC "PuTTY SSH key generation utility"
+
 200 ICON "puttygen.ico"
 
 201 DIALOG DISCARDABLE 0, 0, 318, 270
@@ -78,6 +81,8 @@ BEGIN
 
 END
 
+#include "version.rc2"
+
 #ifndef NO_MANIFESTS
 1 RT_MANIFEST "puttygen.mft"
 #endif /* NO_MANIFESTS */
diff --git a/windows/puttytel.rc b/windows/puttytel.rc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dbdfc46d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/windows/puttytel.rc
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#include "rcstuff.h"
+
+#define APPNAME "PuTTYtel"
+#define APPDESC "Telnet and Rlogin client"
+
+#include "win_res.rc2"
+
+#ifndef NO_MANIFESTS
+/* FIXME */
+1 RT_MANIFEST "putty.mft"
+#endif /* NO_MANIFESTS */
diff --git a/windows/rcstuff.h b/windows/rcstuff.h
index 1936f7d4..22b22035 100644
--- a/windows/rcstuff.h
+++ b/windows/rcstuff.h
@@ -30,4 +30,21 @@
 #define RT_MANIFEST 24
 #endif
 
+/* LCC is the offender here. */
+#ifndef VS_FF_DEBUG
+#define VS_FF_DEBUG        1
+#endif
+#ifndef VS_FF_PRERELEASE
+#define VS_FF_PRERELEASE   2
+#endif
+#ifndef VS_FF_PRIVATEBUILD
+#define VS_FF_PRIVATEBUILD 8
+#endif
+#ifndef VOS__WINDOWS32
+#define VOS__WINDOWS32     4
+#endif
+#ifndef VFT_APP
+#define VFT_APP            1
+#endif
+
 #endif /* PUTTY_RCSTUFF_H */
diff --git a/windows/version.rc2 b/windows/version.rc2
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d5c620a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/windows/version.rc2
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+/*
+ * Standard Windows version information.
+ * (For inclusion in other .rc files with appropriate macro definitions.)
+ * FIXME: This file is called '.rc2' rather than '.rc' to avoid MSVC trying
+ * to compile it on its own when using the project files. Nicer solutions
+ * welcome.
+ */
+
+/*
+ * Binary versions in Windows are major.minor.build.revision. Each
+ * component is 16-bit.
+ * Here we have:
+ *   major.minor
+ *     PuTTY version number (e.g. 0.58). (We've made a policy decision
+ *     that these will be numeric from now on.)
+ *     Present in releases and snapshots (for the sake of monotonicity
+ *     in version numbers).
+ *   build
+ *     In releases, always 0.
+ *     In snapshots, nearest Subversion revision. (It shouldn't be
+ *     assumed that only one binary will have a given build number, of
+ *     course.)
+ *   revision
+ *     Reserved; always 0.
+ *
+ * Examples of these version numbers:
+ *   Release:  0.58.0.0	    (but 0.58 didn't have a VERSIONINFO resource)
+ *   Snapshot: 0.58.6356.0  (between 0.58 and the next release)
+ *   Local:    0.0.0.0
+ */
+
+/*
+ * Mechanics of version naming/numbering.
+ * (This is a ripoff of ../version.c.)
+ */
+
+#define STR1(x) #x
+#define STR(x) STR1(x)
+
+/* We keep this around even for snapshots, for monotonicity of version
+ * numbering. It needs to be kept up to date. NB _comma_-separated. */
+#define BASE_VERSION 0,58
+
+#if defined SNAPSHOT
+
+/* Make SVN_REV mandatory for snapshots, to avoid issuing binary
+ * version numbers that look like full releases. */
+#if (!defined SVN_REV) || (SVN_REV == 0)
+#error SVN_REV not defined/nonzero for snapshot build
+#endif
+
+#define VERSION_TEXT "Development snapshot " STR(SNAPSHOT) ":r" STR(SVN_REV)
+#define BINARY_VERSION BASE_VERSION,SVN_REV,0
+
+#elif defined RELEASE
+
+#define VERSION_TEXT "Release " STR(RELEASE)
+#define BINARY_VERSION BASE_VERSION,0,0
+
+#else
+
+/* We can't reliably get the same date and time as version.c, so
+ * we won't bother trying. */
+#define VERSION_TEXT "Unidentified build"
+#define BINARY_VERSION 0,0,0,0
+
+#endif
+
+/*
+ * The actual VERSIONINFO resource.
+ */
+VS_VERSION_INFO VERSIONINFO
+/* (None of this "fixed" info appears to be trivially user-visible on
+ * Win98SE. The binary version does show up on Win2K.) */
+FILEVERSION	BINARY_VERSION
+PRODUCTVERSION	BINARY_VERSION	/* version of whole suite */
+FILEFLAGSMASK	VS_FF_DEBUG | VS_FF_PRERELEASE | VS_FF_PRIVATEBUILD
+FILEFLAGS	0x0L
+#if defined DEBUG
+		| VS_FF_DEBUG
+#endif
+#if defined SNAPSHOT
+		| VS_FF_PRERELEASE
+#elif !defined RELEASE
+		| VS_FF_PRIVATEBUILD
+#endif
+FILEOS		VOS__WINDOWS32
+FILETYPE	VFT_APP
+FILESUBTYPE	0x0L /* n/a for VFT_APP */
+BEGIN
+    /* (On Win98SE and Win2K, we can see most of this on the Version tab
+     * in the file properties in Explorer.) */
+    BLOCK "StringFileInfo"
+    BEGIN
+	/* "lang-charset" LLLLCCCC = (UK English, Unicode) */
+	BLOCK "080904B0"
+	BEGIN
+	    VALUE "CompanyName",	"Simon Tatham"  /* required :/ */
+	    VALUE "ProductName",	"PuTTY suite"
+	    VALUE "FileDescription",	APPDESC
+	    VALUE "InternalName",	APPNAME
+	    VALUE "OriginalFilename",	APPNAME
+	    VALUE "FileVersion",	VERSION_TEXT
+	    VALUE "ProductVersion",	VERSION_TEXT
+	    VALUE "LegalCopyright",	"Copyright \251 1997-2005 Simon Tatham."
+#if (!defined SNAPSHOT) && (!defined RELEASE)
+	    /* Only if VS_FF_PRIVATEBUILD. */
+	    VALUE "PrivateBuild",	VERSION_TEXT /* NBI */
+#endif
+	END
+    END
+    BLOCK "VarFileInfo"
+    BEGIN
+	/* Once again -- same meanings -- apparently necessary */
+	VALUE "Translation", 0x809, 1200
+    END
+END
+
+#undef VERSION_TEXT
+#undef BASE_VERSION
+#undef BINARY_VERSION
diff --git a/windows/win_res.rc b/windows/win_res.rc2
similarity index 88%
rename from windows/win_res.rc
rename to windows/win_res.rc2
index c24db046..3b55158c 100644
--- a/windows/win_res.rc
+++ b/windows/win_res.rc2
@@ -1,8 +1,14 @@
 /*
- * Windows resources for PuTTY and PuTTYtel.
+ * Windows resources shared between PuTTY and PuTTYtel, to be #include'd
+ * after defining appropriate macros.
+ * Note that many of these strings mention PuTTY. Due to restrictions in
+ * VC's handling of string concatenation, this can't easily be fixed.
+ * It's fixed up at runtime.
+ * FIXME: This file is called '.rc2' rather than '.rc' to avoid MSVC trying
+ * to compile it on its own when using the project files. Nicer solutions
+ * welcome.
  */
 
-#include "rcstuff.h"
 #include "win_res.h"
 
 IDI_MAINICON ICON "putty.ico"
@@ -83,6 +89,4 @@ BEGIN
 
 END
 
-#ifndef NO_MANIFESTS
-1 RT_MANIFEST "putty.mft"
-#endif /* NO_MANIFESTS */
+#include "version.rc2"