Would it possible to use a free compiler like MinGW or CygWin, instead of M$ Visual Studio?
MinGW sounds like the way to go. Then you don't need the cygwin1.dll. Plus MinGW has working pthreads, so the objects that use pthreads can run on windows.
MinGW _is_ a nice IDE. A while back I tried to create externals using minGW but I couldn't make them load in PD. I think it is a problem with export of the setup function. We had a shot discussion on the PD list but never made it work.
Cheers Soeren