diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 85e9d3e5b..6c85f0992 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,8 +18,7 @@ Then just call `lazygit` in your terminal inside a git repository.
 If you want, you can also add an alias for this with `echo "alias lg='lazygit'" >> ~/.zshrc` (or whichever rc file you're using).
 
 Please note:
-On MacOS you may have to add `~/go/bin` to your $PATH variable.
-
+On MacOS you may have to add `~/go/bin` to your $PATH variable, or `%HOME%\go\bin` to your %PATH% in Windows
 
 ### Ubuntu
 Packages for Ubuntu 14.04 and up are available via Launchpad PPA.
@@ -54,6 +53,7 @@ sudo apt-get install lazygit
 - [ ] Configurable Keybindings
 - [ ] Configurable Color Themes
 - [ ] Spawning Subprocesses (help needed - have a look at https://github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pull/18)
+- [ ] Performance
 - [ ] i18n
 
 ## Contributing
diff --git a/branches_panel.go b/branches_panel.go
index 90cb66d8b..0b8508a3d 100644
--- a/branches_panel.go
+++ b/branches_panel.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/gocui"
 )
@@ -90,7 +91,10 @@ func handleBranchSelect(g *gocui.Gui, v *gocui.View) error {
 	}
 	go func() {
 		branch := getSelectedBranch(v)
-		diff, _ := getBranchGraph(branch.Name, branch.BaseBranch)
+		diff, err := getBranchGraph(branch.Name, branch.BaseBranch)
+		if err != nil && strings.HasPrefix(diff, "fatal: ambiguous argument") {
+			diff = "There is no tracking for this branch"
+		}
 		renderString(g, "main", diff)
 	}()
 	return nil
diff --git a/files_panel.go b/files_panel.go
index 50d6b64e2..a69deaa25 100644
--- a/files_panel.go
+++ b/files_panel.go
@@ -78,6 +78,9 @@ func getSelectedFile(g *gocui.Gui) (GitFile, error) {
 func handleFileRemove(g *gocui.Gui, v *gocui.View) error {
 	file, err := getSelectedFile(g)
 	if err != nil {
+		if err == ErrNoFiles {
+			return nil
+		}
 		return err
 	}
 	var deleteVerb string
diff --git a/gitcommands.go b/gitcommands.go
index 71e737a6e..50c1f2a9f 100644
--- a/gitcommands.go
+++ b/gitcommands.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
+	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -111,12 +112,20 @@ func mergeGitStatusFiles(oldGitFiles, newGitFiles []GitFile) []GitFile {
 	return result
 }
 
+func platformShell() (string, string) {
+	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
+		return "cmd", "/c"
+	}
+	return "sh", "-c"
+}
+
 func runDirectCommand(command string) (string, error) {
 	timeStart := time.Now()
-
 	commandLog(command)
+
+	shell, shellArg := platformShell()
 	cmdOut, err := exec.
-		Command("bash", "-c", command).
+		Command(shell, shellArg, command).
 		CombinedOutput()
 	devLog("run direct command time for command: ", command, time.Now().Sub(timeStart))
 	return sanitisedCommandOutput(cmdOut, err)
@@ -174,7 +183,7 @@ func branchFromLine(line string, index int) Branch {
 func getGitBranches() []Branch {
 	branches := make([]Branch, 0)
 	// check if there are any branches
-	branchCheck, _ := runDirectCommand("git branch")
+	branchCheck, _ := runCommand("git branch")
 	if branchCheck == "" {
 		return append(branches, branchFromLine("master", 0))
 	}
@@ -205,9 +214,14 @@ func branchAlreadyStored(branchLine string, branches []Branch) bool {
 // directory i.e. things we've fetched but haven't necessarily checked out.
 // Worth mentioning this has nothing to do with the 'git merge' operation
 func getAndMergeFetchedBranches(branches []Branch) []Branch {
-	rawString, _ := runDirectCommand(getHeadsCommand)
+	rawString, err := runDirectCommand("git branch --sort=-committerdate --no-color")
+	if err != nil {
+		return branches
+	}
 	branchLines := splitLines(rawString)
 	for _, line := range branchLines {
+		line = strings.Replace(line, "* ", "", -1)
+		line = strings.TrimSpace(line)
 		if branchAlreadyStored(line, branches) {
 			continue
 		}
@@ -561,11 +575,3 @@ git reflog -n100 --pretty='%cr|%gs' --grep-reflog='checkout: moving' HEAD | {
   | tr -d ' '
 }
 `
-
-const getHeadsCommand = `git show-ref \
-| grep 'refs/heads/\|refs/remotes/origin/' \
-| sed 's/.*refs\/heads\///g' \
-| sed 's/.*refs\/remotes\/origin\///g' \
-| grep -v '^HEAD$' \
-| sort \
-| uniq`
diff --git a/gui.go b/gui.go
index 4d883cae5..7c5344dd8 100644
--- a/gui.go
+++ b/gui.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	// "io/ioutil"
 
 	"log"
+	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -136,7 +137,9 @@ func keybindings(g *gocui.Gui) error {
 func layout(g *gocui.Gui) error {
 	g.Highlight = true
 	g.SelFgColor = gocui.ColorWhite | gocui.AttrBold
-	g.FgColor = gocui.ColorBlack
+	if runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
+		g.FgColor = gocui.ColorBlack
+	}
 	width, height := g.Size()
 	leftSideWidth := width / 3
 	statusFilesBoundary := 2