diff --git a/src/Edit.c b/src/Edit.c
index 5f2bb97d8..9b9c9e4f1 100644
--- a/src/Edit.c
+++ b/src/Edit.c
@@ -6576,9 +6576,12 @@ void EditMarkAll(HWND hwnd, char* pszFind, int flags, DocPos rangeStart, DocPos
 //  EditCompleteWord()
 //  Auto-complete words (by Aleksandar Lekov)
 //
+
+#define _MAX_AUTOC_WORD_LEN 240
+
 typedef struct WLIST {
-  char* word;
   struct WLIST* next;
+  char word[_MAX_AUTOC_WORD_LEN];
 } WLIST, *PWLIST;
 
 
@@ -6624,7 +6627,7 @@ void EditCompleteWord(HWND hwnd, bool autoInsert)
     return;
   }
 
-  char pRoot[256];
+  char pRoot[_MAX_AUTOC_WORD_LEN];
   DocPosCR const iRootLen = (DocPosCR)(iCurrentLinePos - iStartWordPos);
 
   StringCchCopyNA(pRoot, COUNTOF(pRoot), pLine + iStartWordPos, (size_t)iRootLen);
@@ -6638,12 +6641,9 @@ void EditCompleteWord(HWND hwnd, bool autoInsert)
   DocPos iPosFind = SciCall_FindText(SCFIND_WORDSTART, &ft);
 
   int iNumWords = 0;
-  DocPos iWListSize = 0;
-
-  char pWord[256];
-  WLIST wlWord = { NULL, NULL };
-  wlWord.word = pWord;
+  size_t iWListSize = 0;
 
+  PWLIST pwlWord = NULL;
   PWLIST pWLItem = NULL;
   PWLIST pListHead = NULL;
 
@@ -6656,20 +6656,21 @@ void EditCompleteWord(HWND hwnd, bool autoInsert)
       while ((wordEnd < iDocLen) && StrChrIA(ALLOWED_WORD_CHARS, SciCall_GetCharAt(wordEnd))) { ++wordEnd; }
 
       DocPos const wordLength = (wordEnd - iPosFind);
-      if (wordLength > iRootLen) {
+      if (wordLength > iRootLen) 
+      {
+        if (!pwlWord) { pwlWord = (PWLIST)AllocMem(sizeof(WLIST), HEAP_ZERO_MEMORY); }
+        if (pwlWord) 
+        {
+          StringCchCopyNA(pwlWord->word, _MAX_AUTOC_WORD_LEN, SciCall_GetRangePointer(iPosFind, wordLength), wordLength);
 
-        StringCchCopyNA(wlWord.word, COUNTOF(pWord), SciCall_GetRangePointer(iPosFind, wordLength), wordLength);
-
-        PWLIST pPrev = NULL;
-        LL_SEARCH_ORDERED(pListHead, pPrev, pWLItem, &wlWord, wordcmpi);
-        if (!pWLItem) {
-          PWLIST pNewWord = (PWLIST)LocalAlloc(LPTR, sizeof(WLIST));
-          if (pNewWord) {
-            pNewWord->word = StrDupA(pWord);
-            //LL_INSERT_INORDER(pListHead, pNewWord, wordcmpi);
-            LL_APPEND_ELEM(pListHead, pPrev, pNewWord);
+          PWLIST pPrev = NULL;
+          LL_SEARCH_ORDERED(pListHead, pPrev, pWLItem, pwlWord, wordcmp);
+          if (!pWLItem) { // not found
+            //LL_INSERT_INORDER(pListHead, pwlWord, wordcmpi);
+            LL_APPEND_ELEM(pListHead, pPrev, pwlWord);
             ++iNumWords;
             iWListSize += (wordLength + 1);
+            pwlWord = NULL; // alloc new
           }
         }
       }
@@ -6677,9 +6678,10 @@ void EditCompleteWord(HWND hwnd, bool autoInsert)
     ft.chrg.cpMin = (DocPosCR)wordEnd;
     iPosFind = SciCall_FindText(SCFIND_WORDSTART, &ft);
   }
+  if (pwlWord) { FreeMem(pwlWord); pwlWord = NULL; }
 
-  if (iNumWords > 0) {
-
+  if (iNumWords > 0) 
+  {
     const char* const sep = " ";
     SciCall_AutoCCancel();
     SciCall_AutoCSetSeperator(sep[0]);
@@ -6690,21 +6692,21 @@ void EditCompleteWord(HWND hwnd, bool autoInsert)
     SciCall_AutoCSetFillups("\t\n\r");
     //SciCall_AutoCSetFillups(g_bAccelWordNavigation ? WhiteSpaceCharsDefault : WhiteSpaceCharsAccelerated);
 
-    char* pList = LocalAlloc(LPTR, iWListSize + 1);
+    ++iWListSize; // zero termination
+    char* const pList = AllocMem(iWListSize, HEAP_ZERO_MEMORY);
     if (pList) {
       PWLIST pTmp = NULL;
       LL_FOREACH_SAFE(pListHead, pWLItem, pTmp) {
-        if (pWLItem->word) {
-          lstrcatA(pList, sep);
-          lstrcatA(pList, pWLItem->word);
-          LocalFree(pWLItem->word);
+        if (pWLItem->word[0]) {
+          StringCchCatA(pList, iWListSize, sep);
+          StringCchCatA(pList, iWListSize, pWLItem->word);
         }
         LL_DELETE(pListHead, pWLItem);
-        LocalFree(pWLItem);
+        FreeMem(pWLItem);
       }
       
       SciCall_AutoCShow(iRootLen, (pList + 1));
-      LocalFree(pList);
+      FreeMem(pList);
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/Helpers.c b/src/Helpers.c
index 3e4396675..6bf6a7564 100644
--- a/src/Helpers.c
+++ b/src/Helpers.c
@@ -2456,47 +2456,6 @@ void Float2String(float fValue, LPWSTR lpszStrg, int cchSize)
 }
 
 
-
-//=============================================================================
-//
-//  faststrcmpl()
-//  
-int faststrcmpl(const char* ptr0, const char* ptr1, size_t len)
-{
-  size_t fast = len / sizeof(size_t) + 1;
-  size_t offset = (fast - 1) * sizeof(size_t);
-  size_t cur_block = 0;
-
-  if (len <= sizeof(size_t)) { fast = 0; }
-
-  size_t* lptr0 = (size_t*)ptr0;
-  size_t* lptr1 = (size_t*)ptr1;
-
-  while (cur_block < fast) {
-    if ((lptr0[cur_block] ^ lptr1[cur_block])) {
-      for (size_t pos = cur_block * sizeof(size_t); pos < len; ++pos) {
-        if ((ptr0[pos] ^ ptr1[pos]) || (ptr0[pos] == 0) || (ptr1[pos] == 0)) {
-          return  (int)((unsigned char)ptr0[pos] - (unsigned char)ptr1[pos]);
-        }
-      }
-    }
-    ++cur_block;
-  }
-
-  while (len > offset) {
-    if ((ptr0[offset] ^ ptr1[offset])) {
-      return (int)((unsigned char)ptr0[offset] - (unsigned char)ptr1[offset]);
-    }
-    ++offset;
-  }
-
-  return 0;
-}
-
-
-
-
-
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 //
 //   Drag N Drop helpers
diff --git a/src/Helpers.h b/src/Helpers.h
index 5bd1b6ea0..679e165dd 100644
--- a/src/Helpers.h
+++ b/src/Helpers.h
@@ -387,19 +387,18 @@ inline WCHAR* StrEndW(const WCHAR* pStart, size_t siz) {
 
 //==== StrSafe lstrcmp(),lstrcmpi() =============================================
 
-  //return strcmp(a->word, b->word);
-  //return _strcmpi(a->word, b->word);
+// NOTE: !!! differences in AutoCompleteList depending compare functions (CRT vs. Shlwapi)) !!!
 
-//#define StringCchCompareNA(s1,l1,s2,l2)   StrCmpNA((s1),(s2),min((l1),(l2)))
+#define StringCchCompareNA(s1,l1,s2,l2)   StrCmpNA((s1),(s2),min((l1),(l2)))
 //#define StringCchCompareNA(s1,l1,s2,l2)   strncmp((s1),(s2),min((l1),(l2)))
-#define StringCchCompareNA(s1,l1,s2,l2)   faststrcmpl((s1),(s2),min((l1),(l2)))
-//#define StringCchCompareXA(s1,s2)         StrCmpA((s1),(s2))
+#define StringCchCompareXA(s1,s2)         StrCmpA((s1),(s2))
 //#define StringCchCompareXA(s1,s2)         strcmp((s1),(s2))
-#define StringCchCompareXA(s1,s2)         faststrcmp((s1),(s2))
 
 #define StringCchCompareNIA(s1,l1,s2,l2)  StrCmpNIA((s1),(s2),min((l1),(l2)))
 //#define StringCchCompareNIA(s1,l1,s2,l2)  _strnicmp((s1),(s2),min((l1),(l2)))
 #define StringCchCompareXIA(s1,s2)        StrCmpIA((s1),(s2))
+//#define StringCchCompareXIA(s1,s2)        _stricmp((s1),(s2))
+
 
 #define StringCchCompareNW(s1,l1,s2,l2)   StrCmpNW((s1),(s2),min((l1),(l2)))
 #define StringCchCompareXW(s1,s2)         StrCmpW((s1),(s2))
@@ -455,9 +454,6 @@ int ReadVectorFromString(LPCWSTR wchStrg, int iVector[], int iCount, int iMin, i
 bool Char2FloatW(WCHAR* wnumber, float* fresult);
 void Float2String(float fValue, LPWSTR lpszStrg, int cchSize);
 
-#define faststrcmp(p1,p2) faststrcmpl((p1),(p2), strlen(p1))
-int faststrcmpl(const char *ptr0, const char *ptr1, size_t len);
-
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 // including <pathcch.h> and linking against pathcch.lib