diff --git a/docs/advanced.rst b/docs/advanced.rst
index b00c4525..b7d098f1 100644
--- a/docs/advanced.rst
+++ b/docs/advanced.rst
@@ -99,3 +99,8 @@ Your ``default`` and your ``food`` journals won't be encrypted, however your ``w
 
     Changing ``encrypt`` to a different value will not encrypt or decrypt your journal file, it merely says whether or not your journal `is` encrypted. Hence manually changing this option will most likely result in your journal file being impossible to load.
 
+Known Issues
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+- The Windows shell prior to Windows 7 has issues with unicode encoding. If you want to use non-ascii characters, change the codepage with ``chcp 1252`` before using `jrnl` (Thanks to Yves Pouplard for solving this!)
+- _jrnl_ relies on the `PyCrypto` package to encrypt journals, which has some known problems with installing on Windows and within virtual environments.
diff --git a/docs/recipes.rst b/docs/recipes.rst
index 852b1219..0bfb92a5 100644
--- a/docs/recipes.rst
+++ b/docs/recipes.rst
@@ -36,6 +36,26 @@ On OS X, you can use the fabulous `iA Writer <http://www.iawriter.com/mac>`_ to
 
 What does this do? ``open -b ...`` opens a file using the application identified by the bundle identifier (a unique string for every app out there). ``-Wn`` tells the application to wait until it's closed before passing back control, and to use a new instance of the application.
 
+
+Using Notepad++ to write entries on Windows
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+.. note::
+
+    The configuration file is typically found at ``C:\Users\[Your Username]\.jrnl_conf``. This is just a text file and so can be edited in a text editor (but don't use Notepad, it will mess with the line endings).
+
+To set `Notepad++ <http://notepad-plus-plus.org/>`_ as your editor, edit the jrnl config file (``.jrnl_conf``) like this:
+
+.. code-block:: javascript
+
+    {
+      ...
+      "editor": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Notepad++\\notepad++.exe -multiInst",
+    }
+
+The double backslashes are needed so jrnl can read the file path correctly. The ``-multiInst`` option will cause jrnl to open its own Notepad++ window. When you're done editing an entry in Notepad++, save the file and close the Notepad++ window for jrnl to know you're done editing and record your changes.
+
+
 Known Issues
 ------------
 
diff --git a/jrnl/__init__.py b/jrnl/__init__.py
index 33c20aa5..a8e1bfe3 100644
--- a/jrnl/__init__.py
+++ b/jrnl/__init__.py
@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@ jrnl is a simple journal application for your command line.
 """
 
 __title__ = 'jrnl'
-__version__ = '1.7.4'
+__version__ = '1.7.5'
 __author__ = 'Manuel Ebert'
 __license__ = 'MIT License'
-__copyright__ = 'Copyright 2013 Manuel Ebert'
+__copyright__ = 'Copyright 2013 - 2014 Manuel Ebert'
 
 from . import Journal
 from . import cli
diff --git a/jrnl/util.py b/jrnl/util.py
index 102433c7..0c5d148d 100644
--- a/jrnl/util.py
+++ b/jrnl/util.py
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ import keyring
 import pytz
 try: import simplejson as json
 except ImportError: import json
+if "win32" in sys.platform:
+    import colorama
+    colorama.init()
 import re
 import tempfile
 import subprocess
@@ -126,11 +129,9 @@ def load_and_fix_json(json_path):
 
 def get_text_from_editor(config, template=""):
     tmpfile = os.path.join(tempfile.gettempdir(), "jrnl")
-    if template:
-        with codecs.open(tmpfile, 'w', "utf-8") as f:
+    with codecs.open(tmpfile, 'w', "utf-8") as f:
+        if template:
             f.write(template)
-    with open(tmpfile, 'w'):
-        pass
     subprocess.call(config['editor'].split() + [tmpfile])
     with codecs.open(tmpfile, "r", "utf-8") as f:
         raw = f.read()