The start of the do_wait() method of a boost::condition (in 1.29.0) for Win32 looks like this void condition::do_wait() { int res = 0; res = WaitForSingleObject(reinterpret_cast<HANDLE>(m_queue), INFINITE); assert(res == WAIT_OBJECT_0); This waits indefinitely until m_queue is signalled. Would it be safe to change this so the thread is alertable for IO completion routines? Something like int res = 0; while ((res = WaitForSingleObjectEx(reinterpret_cast<HANDLE>(m_queue), INFINITE, true)) == WAIT_IO_COMPLETION) { } assert (res == WAIT_OBJECT_0); We make fairly heavy use of Waitable Timers in our statemachines. The completion routine for a timer is called back in the context of the thread that started it, when the thread is alertable. WaitForSingleObject doesn't allow the thread to be alertable. We currently use this in our own thread (with Windows events) but are looking to update the message queue code and thread code to use boost. With out this change, it would currently break a lot of code if we were to use condition variables. Thanks Russell