diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6a37feb72..a389a59a5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
 
 ### FCL 0.6.0 (2016-XX-XX)
 
-* Switched to Eigen for math operations: [#150](https://github.com/flexible-collision-library/fcl/pull/150), [#96](https://github.com/flexible-collision-library/fcl/issues/96)
 * Added missing copyright headers:  [#149](https://github.com/flexible-collision-library/fcl/pull/149)
+* Enabled build with SSE option by default: [#159](https://github.com/flexible-collision-library/fcl/pull/159)
+* Switched to Eigen for math operations: [#150](https://github.com/flexible-collision-library/fcl/pull/150), [#96](https://github.com/flexible-collision-library/fcl/issues/96)
 * Fixed redundant pair checking of SpatialHashingCollisionManager: [#156](https://github.com/flexible-collision-library/fcl/pull/156)
 * Removed dependency on boost: [#148](https://github.com/flexible-collision-library/fcl/pull/148), [#147](https://github.com/flexible-collision-library/fcl/pull/147), [#146](https://github.com/flexible-collision-library/fcl/pull/146), [#140](https://github.com/flexible-collision-library/fcl/pull/140)
 
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index ef71edc5c..d07f9a44d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -36,14 +36,13 @@ else()
 endif()
 
 # Whether to enable SSE
-option(FCL_USE_SSE "Whether FCL should SSE instructions" OFF)
-set(FCL_HAVE_SSE 0)
+option(FCL_USE_SSE "Whether FCL should SSE instructions" ON)
 if(FCL_USE_SSE)
   if(CMAKE_COMPILER_IS_GNUCXX OR CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL "Clang")
-    set(FCL_HAVE_SSE 0) #always disable, for now
     add_definitions(-march=native)
+  elseif(MSVC)
+    add_definitions(/arch:SSE2)
   endif()
-  # TODO: do something similar for other compilers
 endif()
 
 # Coveralls support