diff --git a/include/wx/msw/setup0.h b/include/wx/msw/setup0.h
index 2e6ade4309..524f8adb08 100644
--- a/include/wx/msw/setup0.h
+++ b/include/wx/msw/setup0.h
@@ -906,7 +906,9 @@
 #define REMOVE_UNUSED_ARG   1
 
 // VC++ 4.2 and above allows <iostream> and <iostream.h> but you can't mix
-// them. Set to 1 for <iostream.h>, 0 for <iostream>
+// them. Set to 1 for <iostream.h>, 0 for <iostream>. Note that VC++ 7.1
+// and later doesn't support wxUSE_IOSTREAMH == 1 and so <iostream> will be
+// used anyhow.
 //
 // Default is 1.
 //
diff --git a/include/wx/platform.h b/include/wx/platform.h
index 4cc8041dda..0471d18605 100644
--- a/include/wx/platform.h
+++ b/include/wx/platform.h
@@ -85,6 +85,15 @@
 /* check the consistency of the settings in setup.h */
 #include "wx/chkconf.h"
 
+/*
+   some compilers don't support iostream.h any longer, so override the users
+   setting here in such case.
+ */
+#if defined(_MSC_VER) && (_MSC_VER >= 1310)
+    #undef wxUSE_IOSTREAMH
+    #define wxUSE_IOSTREAMH 0
+#endif /* compilers not supporting iostream.h */
+
 /*
    old C++ headers (like <iostream.h>) declare classes in the global namespace
    while the new, standard ones (like <iostream>) do it in std:: namespace
@@ -93,9 +102,9 @@
    either case
  */
 #if !wxUSE_IOSTREAMH
-  #define wxSTD std::
+    #define wxSTD std::
 #else
- #define wxSTD
+    #define wxSTD
 #endif
 
 /*