diff --git a/docs/changes.txt b/docs/changes.txt
index fb3f9a60c3..6ce53269f2 100644
--- a/docs/changes.txt
+++ b/docs/changes.txt
@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@ wxMSW:
 
 - compilation fix for VC++ command line build (missing version.mak)
 - fixed release mode build with VC 7.x (Martin Ecker)
+- fix iostream.h problem with VC 7.1 (it doesn't support it any longer) 
 - compilation fix for XRC with mingw32
 
 
diff --git a/include/wx/platform.h b/include/wx/platform.h
index 92b4c210b6..5316fbda9f 100644
--- a/include/wx/platform.h
+++ b/include/wx/platform.h
@@ -87,6 +87,15 @@
 /* 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