diff --git a/Contrib/Banner/Banner.c b/Contrib/Banner/Banner.c
index 3b704489..3fc1824f 100644
--- a/Contrib/Banner/Banner.c
+++ b/Contrib/Banner/Banner.c
@@ -4,16 +4,6 @@
 
 // Unicode support added by Jim Park -- 08/02/2007
 
-// Turn a pair of chars into a word
-// Turn four chars into a dword
-#ifdef __BIG_ENDIAN__ // Not very likely, but, still...
-#define CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b) (((WORD)(b))|((a)<<8))
-#define CHAR4_TO_DWORD(a,b,c,d)	(((DWORD)CHAR2_TO_WORD(c,d))|(CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b)<<16))
-#else
-#define CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b) (((WORD)(a))|((b)<<8))
-#define CHAR4_TO_DWORD(a,b,c,d)	(((DWORD)CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b))|(CHAR2_TO_WORD(c,d)<<16))
-#endif
-
 HINSTANCE hInstance;
 HWND hwBanner;
 HANDLE hThread;
diff --git a/Contrib/InstallOptions/InstallerOptions.cpp b/Contrib/InstallOptions/InstallerOptions.cpp
index d8e03b54..88e75503 100644
--- a/Contrib/InstallOptions/InstallerOptions.cpp
+++ b/Contrib/InstallOptions/InstallerOptions.cpp
@@ -48,16 +48,6 @@ TCHAR *WINAPI STRDUP(const TCHAR *c)
   return lstrcpy(t,c);
 }
 
-// Turn a pair of chars into a word
-// Turn four chars into a dword
-#ifdef __BIG_ENDIAN__ // Not very likely, but, still...
-#define CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b) (((WORD)(b))|((a)<<8))
-#define CHAR4_TO_DWORD(a,b,c,d) (((DWORD)CHAR2_TO_WORD(c,d))|(CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b)<<16))
-#else
-#define CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b) (((WORD)(a))|((b)<<8))
-#define CHAR4_TO_DWORD(a,b,c,d) (((DWORD)CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b))|(CHAR2_TO_WORD(c,d)<<16))
-#endif
-
 // Field types
 // NB - the order of this list is important - see below
 
diff --git a/Contrib/nsExec/nsexec.c b/Contrib/nsExec/nsexec.c
index 19c9a7c1..da5ead0a 100644
--- a/Contrib/nsExec/nsexec.c
+++ b/Contrib/nsExec/nsexec.c
@@ -75,16 +75,6 @@ BOOL WINAPI DllMain(HANDLE hInst, ULONG ul_reason_for_call, LPVOID lpReserved) {
 #define TAB_REPLACE _T("        ")
 #define TAB_REPLACE_SIZE (sizeof(TAB_REPLACE)-1)
 
-// Turn a pair of chars into a word
-// Turn four chars into a dword
-#ifdef __BIG_ENDIAN__ // Not very likely, but, still...
-#define CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b) (((WORD)(b))|((a)<<8))
-#define CHAR4_TO_DWORD(a,b,c,d)	(((DWORD)CHAR2_TO_WORD(c,d))|(CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b)<<16))
-#else
-#define CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b) (((WORD)(a))|((b)<<8))
-#define CHAR4_TO_DWORD(a,b,c,d)	(((DWORD)CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b))|(CHAR2_TO_WORD(c,d)<<16))
-#endif
-
 BOOL IsWOW64() {
   typedef BOOL (WINAPI *LPFN_ISWOW64PROCESS) (HANDLE, PBOOL);
   BOOL wow64;
diff --git a/Source/exehead/Main.c b/Source/exehead/Main.c
index 7fd3e2cb..d488a54e 100644
--- a/Source/exehead/Main.c
+++ b/Source/exehead/Main.c
@@ -153,11 +153,11 @@ int WINAPI _tWinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInst,LPTSTR lpszCmdPara
         cl_flags |= FH_FLAGS_SILENT;
 #endif//NSIS_CONFIG_SILENT_SUPPORT && NSIS_CONFIG_VISIBLE_SUPPORT
 #ifdef NSIS_CONFIG_CRC_SUPPORT
-      if (*(LPDWORD)cmdline == CHAR4_TO_DWORD(_T('N'),_T('C'),_T('R'),_T('C')) && END_OF_ARG(cmdline[4]))
+      if (CMP4CHAR(cmdline, _T("NCRC")) && END_OF_ARG(cmdline[4]))
         cl_flags |= FH_FLAGS_NO_CRC;
 #endif//NSIS_CONFIG_CRC_SUPPORT
 
-      if (*(LPDWORD)(cmdline-2) == CHAR4_TO_DWORD(_T(' '), _T('/'), _T('D'),_T('=')))
+      if (CMP4CHAR(cmdline-2, _T(" /D=")))
       {
         *(LPDWORD)(cmdline-2)=0; // keep this from being passed to uninstaller if necessary
         mystrcpy(state_install_directory,cmdline+2);
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ int WINAPI _tWinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInst,LPTSTR lpszCmdPara
 
     // state_command_line has state_install_directory right after it in memory, so reading
     // a bit over state_command_line won't do any harm
-    while (p >= state_command_line && *(LPDWORD)p != CHAR4_TO_DWORD(_T(' '), _T('_'), _T('?'), _T('='))) p--;
+    while (p >= state_command_line && !CMP4CHAR(p, _T(" _?="))) p--;
 
     m_Err = _LANG_UNINSTINITERROR;
 
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ int WINAPI _tWinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInst,LPTSTR lpszCmdPara
         mystrcpy(state_install_directory,state_exe_directory);
 
       mystrcpy(g_usrvars[0], realcmds);
-      *(LPWORD)g_usrvars[1] = CHAR2_TO_WORD(_T('A'),0);
+      SET2CHAR(g_usrvars[1], _T("A\0"));
 
       for (x = 0; x < 26; x ++)
       {
diff --git a/Source/exehead/util.h b/Source/exehead/util.h
index 71f8cac0..43c4c3d4 100644
--- a/Source/exehead/util.h
+++ b/Source/exehead/util.h
@@ -139,11 +139,29 @@ void * NSISCALL NSISGetProcAddress(HANDLE dllHandle, TCHAR* funcName);
 // Turn a pair of chars into a word
 // Turn four chars into a dword
 #ifdef __BIG_ENDIAN__ // Not very likely, but, still...
-#define CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b) (((WORD)(b))|((a)<<8))
-#define CHAR4_TO_DWORD(a,b,c,d) (((DWORD)CHAR2_TO_WORD(c,d))|(CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b)<<16))
+#ifdef _UNICODE
+#ifdef _NSIS_NO_INT64_SHR
+#define CMP4CHAR(mem, const4) ((((LPDWORD)(mem))[0] == (const4[3]|const4[2]<<16)) && (((LPDWORD)(mem))[1] == (const4[1]|const4[0]<<16)))
 #else
-#define CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b) (((WORD)(a))|((b)<<8))
-#define CHAR4_TO_DWORD(a,b,c,d) (((DWORD)CHAR2_TO_WORD(a,b))|(CHAR2_TO_WORD(c,d)<<16))
+#define CMP4CHAR(mem, const4) (*(PDWORD64)(mem) == (const4[3]|const4[2]<<16|(DWORD64)const4[1]<<32|(DWORD64)const4[0]<<48))
+#endif
+#define SET2CHAR(mem, const2) (*(LPDWORD)(mem) = (const2[1]|const2[0]<<16))
+#else
+#define CMP4CHAR(mem, const4) (*(LPDWORD)(mem) == (const4[3]|const4[2]<<8|const4[1]<<16|const4[0]<<24))
+#define SET2CHAR(mem, const2) (*(LPWORD)(mem) = (const2[1]|const2[0]<<8))
+#endif
+#else
+#ifdef _UNICODE
+#ifdef _NSIS_NO_INT64_SHR
+#define CMP4CHAR(mem, const4) ((((LPDWORD)(mem))[0] == (const4[0]|const4[1]<<16)) && (((LPDWORD)(mem))[1] == (const4[2]|const4[3]<<16)))
+#else
+#define CMP4CHAR(mem, const4) (*(PDWORD64)(mem) == (const4[0]|const4[1]<<16|(DWORD64)const4[2]<<32|(DWORD64)const4[3]<<48))
+#endif
+#define SET2CHAR(mem, const2) (*(LPDWORD)(mem) = (const2[0]|const2[1]<<16))
+#else
+#define CMP4CHAR(mem, const4) (*(LPDWORD)(mem) == (const4[0]|const4[1]<<8|const4[2]<<16|const4[3]<<24))
+#define SET2CHAR(mem, const2) (*(LPWORD)(mem) = (const2[0]|const2[1]<<8))
+#endif
 #endif
 
 #endif//!___NSIS_UTIL_H___