diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 40df6f2d7..1f5f381d1 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ Changes
      in the same way as on the server side.
    * Change the dtls_client and dtls_server samples to work by default over
      IPv6 and optionally by a build option over IPv4.
+   * Change the use of Windows threading to use Microsoft Visual C++ runtime
+     calls, rather than Win32 API calls directly. This is necessary to avoid
+     conflict with C runtime usage. Found and fixed by irwir.
 
 = mbed TLS 2.13.1 branch released 2018-09-06
 
diff --git a/library/timing.c b/library/timing.c
index 3e8139f1f..413d133fb 100644
--- a/library/timing.c
+++ b/library/timing.c
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
 
 #include <windows.h>
 #include <winbase.h>
+#include <process.h>
 
 struct _hr_time
 {
@@ -267,18 +268,17 @@ unsigned long mbedtls_timing_get_timer( struct mbedtls_timing_hr_time *val, int
 /* It's OK to use a global because alarm() is supposed to be global anyway */
 static DWORD alarmMs;
 
-static DWORD WINAPI TimerProc( LPVOID TimerContext )
+static void TimerProc( void *TimerContext )
 {
-    ((void) TimerContext);
+    (void) TimerContext;
     Sleep( alarmMs );
     mbedtls_timing_alarmed = 1;
-    return( TRUE );
+    /* _endthread will be called implicitly on return
+     * That ensures execution of thread funcition's epilogue */
 }
 
 void mbedtls_set_alarm( int seconds )
 {
-    DWORD ThreadId;
-
     if( seconds == 0 )
     {
         /* No need to create a thread for this simple case.
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ void mbedtls_set_alarm( int seconds )
 
     mbedtls_timing_alarmed = 0;
     alarmMs = seconds * 1000;
-    CloseHandle( CreateThread( NULL, 0, TimerProc, NULL, 0, &ThreadId ) );
+    (void) _beginthread( TimerProc, 0, NULL );
 }
 
 #else /* _WIN32 && !EFIX64 && !EFI32 */