diff --git a/api/boinc_api.C b/api/boinc_api.C
index 597229e841..6c462d4dd7 100644
--- a/api/boinc_api.C
+++ b/api/boinc_api.C
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ extern BOOL    win_loop_done;
 LONG CALLBACK boinc_catch_signal(EXCEPTION_POINTERS *ExceptionInfo);
 #else
 extern void boinc_catch_signal(int signal);
+extern void boinc_quit(int sig);
 #endif
 
 static APP_INIT_DATA aid;
@@ -88,11 +89,9 @@ GRAPHICS_INFO gi;
 static double timer_period = 1.0/50.0;    // 50 Hz timer
 static double time_until_checkpoint;
 static double time_until_fraction_done_update;
-static double time_until_quit_check;
 static double fraction_done;
 static double last_checkpoint_cpu_time;
 static bool ready_to_checkpoint = false;
-static bool check_quit = false;
 static bool write_frac_done = false;
 static bool this_process_active;
 static bool time_to_quit = false;
@@ -161,7 +160,6 @@ int boinc_init() {
 #endif
     time_until_checkpoint = aid.checkpoint_period;
     time_until_fraction_done_update = aid.fraction_done_update_period;
-    time_until_quit_check = 1;  // check every 1 second for quit request from core client
     this_process_active = true;
     
     boinc_install_signal_handlers();
@@ -177,7 +175,7 @@ int boinc_install_signal_handlers() {
 #ifdef HAVE_SIGNAL_H
     signal( SIGHUP, boinc_catch_signal );  // terminal line hangup
     signal( SIGINT, boinc_catch_signal );  // interrupt program
-    signal( SIGQUIT, boinc_catch_signal ); // quit program
+    signal( SIGQUIT, boinc_quit );         // quit program
     signal( SIGILL, boinc_catch_signal );  // illegal instruction
     signal( SIGABRT, boinc_catch_signal ); // abort(2) call
     signal( SIGBUS, boinc_catch_signal );  // bus error
@@ -244,7 +242,6 @@ void boinc_catch_signal(int signal) {
     switch(signal) {
         case SIGHUP: fprintf( stderr, "SIGHUP: terminal line hangup" ); break;
         case SIGINT: fprintf( stderr, "SIGINT: interrupt program" ); break;
-        case SIGQUIT: fprintf( stderr, "SIGQUIT: quit program" ); break;
         case SIGILL: fprintf( stderr, "SIGILL: illegal instruction" ); break;
         case SIGABRT: fprintf( stderr, "SIGABRT: abort called" ); break;
         case SIGBUS: fprintf( stderr, "SIGBUS: bus error" ); break;
@@ -256,6 +253,11 @@ void boinc_catch_signal(int signal) {
     fprintf( stderr, "\nExiting...\n" );
     exit(ERR_SIGNAL_CATCH);
 }
+
+void boinc_quit(int sig) {
+    signal( SIGQUIT, boinc_quit );	// reset signal
+    time_to_quit = true;
+}
 #endif
 
 int boinc_finish(int status) {
@@ -306,15 +308,16 @@ int boinc_resolve_filename(char *virtual_name, char *physical_name, int len) {
 }
 
 bool boinc_time_to_checkpoint() {
-    if (check_quit) {
-        FILE* f = fopen(QUIT_FILE, "r");
-        if(f) {
-            parse_quit_file(f,time_to_quit);
-            fclose(f);
-        }
-        time_until_quit_check = 1;    // reset to 1 second
-        check_quit = false;
+#ifdef _WIN32
+    DWORD eventState;
+    // Check if core client has requested us to exit
+    WaitForSingleObject(quitRequestEvent, 0L);
+    
+    switch (eventState) {
+        case WAIT_OBJECT_0:
+        case WAIT_ABANDONED:
     }
+#endif
 
     if (write_frac_done) {
         write_fraction_done_file(fraction_done, boinc_cpu_time(), last_checkpoint_cpu_time);
@@ -435,13 +438,6 @@ void on_timer(int a) {
         }
     }
 
-    if (!check_quit) {
-        time_until_quit_check -= timer_period;
-        if (time_until_quit_check <= 0) {
-            check_quit = true;
-        }
-    }
-
     if (!write_frac_done && this_process_active) {
         time_until_fraction_done_update -= timer_period;
         if (time_until_fraction_done_update <= 0) {
@@ -592,21 +588,6 @@ int parse_fraction_done_file(FILE* f, double& pct, double& cpu, double& checkpoi
     return 0;
 }
 
-int write_quit_file(FILE* f) {
-    fprintf(f, "<quit/>\n");
-    return 0;
-}
-
-int parse_quit_file(FILE* f, bool& quit) {
-    char buf[256];
-    
-    while (fgets(buf, 256, f)) {
-        if (match_tag(buf, "<quit/>")) quit = true;
-        else fprintf(stderr, "parse_quit_file: unrecognized %s", buf);
-    }
-    return 0;
-}
-
 // TODO: this should handle arbitrarily many fd/filename pairs.
 // Also, give the tags better names
 int write_fd_init_file(FILE* f, char *file_name, int fdesc, int input_file ) {
diff --git a/api/boinc_api.h b/api/boinc_api.h
index a678a37ed7..aaf27ba9be 100755
--- a/api/boinc_api.h
+++ b/api/boinc_api.h
@@ -84,15 +84,12 @@ int write_fd_init_file(FILE*, char*, int, int);
 int parse_fd_init_file(FILE*);
 int write_fraction_done_file(double, double, double);
 int parse_fraction_done_file(FILE*, double&, double&, double&);
-int write_quit_file(FILE* f);
-int parse_quit_file(FILE* f, bool& quit);
 
 #define INIT_DATA_FILE    "init_data.xml"
 #define GRAPHICS_DATA_FILE    "graphics.xml"
 #define FD_INIT_FILE    "fd_init.xml"
 #define FRACTION_DONE_FILE  "fraction_done.xml"
 #define FRACTION_DONE_TEMP_FILE  "fraction_done.tmp"
-#define QUIT_FILE  "quit.xml"
 #define STDERR_FILE             "stderr.txt"
 
 int set_timer(double period);
diff --git a/client/app.C b/client/app.C
index 768e4b1a0f..289a7867ff 100644
--- a/client/app.C
+++ b/client/app.C
@@ -266,12 +266,10 @@ int ACTIVE_TASK::start(bool first_time) {
 
     fclose(f);
 
-    sprintf(temp, "%s%s%s", slot_dir, PATH_SEPARATOR, QUIT_FILE);
-    file_delete(temp);
-
 #ifdef _WIN32
     PROCESS_INFORMATION process_info;
     STARTUPINFO startup_info;
+    SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES quit_handle_attrs;
     char slotdirpath[256];
     char cmd_line[512];
     int win_error;
@@ -282,6 +280,11 @@ int ACTIVE_TASK::start(bool first_time) {
     startup_info.lpReserved = NULL;
     startup_info.lpDesktop = "";
 
+    quit_handle_attrs.nLength = sizeof(SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES);
+    quit_handle_attrs.lpSecurityDescriptor = NULL;
+    quit_handle_attrs.bInheritHandle = TRUE;
+    quitRequestEvent = CreateEvent( &quit_handle_attrs, FALSE, FALSE, 
+    
     // NOTE: in Windows, stderr is redirected within boinc_init();
 
     sprintf( cmd_line, "%s %s", exec_path, wup->command_line );
@@ -360,23 +363,16 @@ int ACTIVE_TASK::start(bool first_time) {
 // If it doesn't exit within a set time (seconds), the process is terminated
 //
 int ACTIVE_TASK::request_exit() {
-    char quit_file[256];
-    int retval;
-
-    get_slot_dir(slot, slot_dir);
-    sprintf(quit_file, "%s%s%s", slot_dir, PATH_SEPARATOR, QUIT_FILE);
-    FILE *fp = fopen(quit_file, "w");
-    if (!fp) return ERR_FOPEN;
-    retval = write_quit_file(fp);
-    fclose(fp);
-    if (retval) return retval;
-    return 0;
+#ifdef _WIN32
+    return !SetEvent(quitRequestEvent);
+#else
+    return kill(pid, SIGQUIT);
+#endif
 }
 
 int ACTIVE_TASK::kill_task() {
 #ifdef _WIN32
-    TerminateProcess(pid_handle, -1);
-    return 0;
+    return !TerminateProcess(pid_handle, -1);
 #else
     return kill(pid, SIGKILL);
 #endif
@@ -464,6 +460,7 @@ bool ACTIVE_TASK_SET::poll() {
                 }
                 CloseHandle(atp->pid_handle);
                 CloseHandle(atp->thread_handle);
+                CloseHandle(atp->quitRequestEvent);
                 atp->read_stderr_file();
                 clean_out_dir(atp->slot_dir);
             }
diff --git a/client/app.h b/client/app.h
index 002a671bb3..a4b7f6aa27 100644
--- a/client/app.h
+++ b/client/app.h
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ typedef int PROCESS_ID;
 class ACTIVE_TASK {
 public:
 #ifdef _WIN32
-    HANDLE pid_handle,thread_handle;
+    HANDLE pid_handle, thread_handle, quitRequestEvent;
 #endif
     RESULT* result;
     WORKUNIT* wup;
diff --git a/client/cs_apps.C b/client/cs_apps.C
index 63e6ba18dc..e06e565f73 100644
--- a/client/cs_apps.C
+++ b/client/cs_apps.C
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ int CLIENT_STATE::cleanup_and_exit() {
         // don't return here - we'll exit anyway
     }
     retval = write_state_file();
-    if (retval) { 
+    if (retval) {
         fprintf(stderr, "error: CLIENT_STATE.exit: write_state_file failed\n");
         // don't return here - we'll exit anyway
     }