diff --git a/tests/runner.cc b/tests/runner.cc
index 871e768..62e1741 100644
--- a/tests/runner.cc
+++ b/tests/runner.cc
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 /* a rudimentary test runner for cubescript files */
 
+#ifdef _MSC_VER
+/* avoid silly complaints about fopen */
+#  define _CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS 1
+#endif
+
 #include <cstdio>
 #include <string>
 #include <string_view>