diff --git a/.bashrc b/.bashrc
index 9ae486e..eb9b447 100644
--- a/.bashrc
+++ b/.bashrc
@@ -24,6 +24,16 @@ case "$(uname -s)" in
     CYGWIN* )
         DOTENV="cygwin"
 		;;
+	MINGW32_NT* )
+		# we'll just pretend to use the cygwin functions
+		DOTENV="cygwin"
+		# we can only have monochrome prompts
+		_PS1_MONOCHROME=1
+		# force the usage of /bin/bash instead of /bin/sh
+		if [ $BASH == '/bin/sh' ]; then
+			BASH='/bin/bash'
+		fi
+		;;
     Darwin )
         DOTENV="darwin"
 		;;
diff --git a/.dotenv/.aliases b/.dotenv/.aliases
index 6faa009..6d07660 100644
--- a/.dotenv/.aliases
+++ b/.dotenv/.aliases
@@ -22,9 +22,42 @@ alias cp="cp -i"
 alias mv="mv -i"
 
 # Colorize grep matches
-alias grep="grep --color=auto"
-alias fgrep="fgrep --color=auto"
-alias egrep="egrep --color=auto"
+# test if color is supported
+echo | grep --color=auto > /dev/null 2>&1
+# if it is, always add color
+if [[ $? == 0 ]]; then
+	alias grep="grep --color=auto"
+	alias fgrep="fgrep --color=auto"
+	alias egrep="egrep --color=auto"
+fi
+
+# Detect which `ls` flavor is in use
+if ls --color > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+	# GNU ls
+	LS_COLOR_FLAG="--color"
+else
+	# darwin ls
+	LS_COLOR_FLAG="-G"
+fi
+# Specialized directory listings
+alias la="ls -lA ${LS_COLOR_FLAG}"
+alias ll="ls -l ${LS_COLOR_FLAG}"
+alias l.="ls -d ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} .*"
+alias ls="ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG}"
+alias lf="ls -l ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} | grep '^d'"
+
+# check if we can display in long format
+if ls --format=long > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+	alias dir="ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} --format=vertical"
+	alias vdir="ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} --format=long"
+fi
+
+unset LS_COLOR_FLAG
+
+# allow which command to expand
+if which --tty-only which > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+	alias which="alias | /usr/bin/which --tty-only --read-alias --show-dot --show-tilde"
+fi
 
 # shortcuts to custom xargs pipes and process commands and other functions
 alias els="execlist"
diff --git a/.dotenv/.prompt b/.dotenv/.prompt
index 09a528d..b9b079c 100644
--- a/.dotenv/.prompt
+++ b/.dotenv/.prompt
@@ -36,17 +36,21 @@ PS1_COLOR_LOAD='
 
 # If we want a monochrome bash prompt
 if [[ -n $_PS1_MONOCHROME ]]; then
+# quick reference to colors
+	PS1_COLOR_GREY=
+	PS1_COLOR_DARK_GREY=
+
 	# colors for individual parts of the bash prompt
-	PS1_COLOR_EXIT_ERROR=''
-	PS1_COLOR_BG_JOBS=''
-	PS1_COLOR_USER=''
-	PS1_COLOR_HOST=''
-	PS1_COLOR_HOST_SCREEN=$PS1_COLOR_UNDERLINE''
-	PS1_COLOR_WORK_DIR=''
-	PS1_COLOR_WORK_DIRINFO=''
-	PS1_COLOR_GIT=''
-	PS1_COLOR_TIME_AM=''
-	PS1_COLOR_TIME_PM=''
+	PS1_COLOR_EXIT_ERROR=
+	PS1_COLOR_BG_JOBS=
+	PS1_COLOR_USER=
+	PS1_COLOR_HOST=
+	PS1_COLOR_HOST_SCREEN=$PS1_COLOR_UNDERLINE
+	PS1_COLOR_WORK_DIR=
+	PS1_COLOR_WORK_DIRINFO=
+	PS1_COLOR_GIT=
+	PS1_COLOR_TIME_AM=
+	PS1_COLOR_TIME_PM=
 
 	# load avg colorization
 	PS1_COLOR_LOAD='
@@ -97,7 +101,7 @@ function __ps1_dir_wrapper() {
 	if [[ $(( $__ps1_var_date - $__ps1_var_dirinforeloadtime )) -gt $__ps1_var_dirinfotime || "$PWD" != "$__ps1_var_dirinfoprev" ]]; then
 		lsout=$(/bin/ls -lAh)
 		lsnum=$(($(echo "${lsout}" | \wc -l | \sed "s/ //g") - 1))
-		lssize="$(echo "${lsout}" | \grep -m 1 total | \sed "s/total //")b"
+		lssize="$(echo "${lsout}" | \grep '^total ' | \sed 's/^total //')b"
 	
 		__ps1_var_dirinfo="${lsnum}|${lssize}"
 		__ps1_var_dirinfoprev="$PWD"
diff --git a/.dotenv/cygwin/.aliases b/.dotenv/cygwin/.aliases
index 1b1ce8d..f6663a0 100755
--- a/.dotenv/cygwin/.aliases
+++ b/.dotenv/cygwin/.aliases
@@ -11,19 +11,6 @@ alias p="cd ~/Documents/Projects"
 alias open="cygstart"
 alias md5="md5sum"
 
-# Specialized directory listings
-alias la="ls -lA --color=auto" 2> /dev/null
-alias ll="ls -l --color=auto" 2> /dev/null
-alias l.="ls -d .* --color=auto" 2> /dev/null
-alias ls="ls --color=auto" 2> /dev/null
-alias lf="ls -l --color=auto | grep '^d'" 2> /dev/null
-
-alias dir="ls --color=auto --format=vertical"
-alias vdir="ls --color=auto --format=long"
-
-# allow which command to expand
-alias which="alias | /usr/bin/which --tty-only --read-alias --show-dot --show-tilde"
-
 # Ability to kill windows applications
 alias kill="/bin/kill.exe -f"
 
diff --git a/.dotenv/cygwin/.exports b/.dotenv/cygwin/.exports
index 13f9121..d043b88 100755
--- a/.dotenv/cygwin/.exports
+++ b/.dotenv/cygwin/.exports
@@ -1,2 +1,8 @@
 # Number of threads that is available
-export PROC_CORES=$(grep "^processor" -c /proc/cpuinfo)
+if [[ -r /proc/cpuinfo ]]; then
+	# for cygwin based environments
+	export PROC_CORES=$(grep "^processor" -c /proc/cpuinfo)
+else
+	# for mingw based environments
+	export PROC_CORES=$(/c/Windows/syswow64/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/powershell.exe get-wmiobject Win32_ComputerSystem\|format-list *proc* | grep 'Logical' | sed 's/^.\+ : //')
+fi
diff --git a/.dotenv/darwin/.aliases b/.dotenv/darwin/.aliases
index bee0bd4..b2d5ee6 100755
--- a/.dotenv/darwin/.aliases
+++ b/.dotenv/darwin/.aliases
@@ -3,10 +3,3 @@ alias wcopy="xclip --in"
 alias wpaste="xclip --out"
 
 # Shortcuts
-
-# Specialized directory listings
-alias la="ls -lAG" 2> /dev/null
-alias ll="ls -lG" 2> /dev/null
-alias l.="ls -d .* -G" 2> /dev/null
-alias ls="ls -G" 2> /dev/null
-alias lf="ls -lG | grep '^d'" 2> /dev/null
diff --git a/.dotenv/linux/.aliases b/.dotenv/linux/.aliases
index 224de83..912a681 100755
--- a/.dotenv/linux/.aliases
+++ b/.dotenv/linux/.aliases
@@ -9,16 +9,3 @@ alias open="nautilus"
 
 # useful shortcuts
 alias md5="md5sum"
-
-# Specialized directory listings
-alias la="ls -lA --color=auto" 2> /dev/null
-alias ll="ls -l --color=auto" 2> /dev/null
-alias l.="ls -d .* --color=auto" 2> /dev/null
-alias ls="ls --color=auto" 2> /dev/null
-alias lf="ls -l --color=auto | grep '^d'" 2> /dev/null
-
-alias dir="ls --color=auto --format=vertical"
-alias vdir="ls --color=auto --format=long"
-
-# allow which command to expand
-alias which="alias | /usr/bin/which --tty-only --read-alias --show-dot --show-tilde"