if Config::CONFIG['host'] =~ /mswin/i
  def socket_active?
    return false if not @sock or @sock.closed?
    begin
      @sock.write("\0")
      Timeout.timeout(0.1){ @sock.read } # TODO make 0.1 configurable
    rescue Exception
      false
    end
  end
else
  def socket_active?
    @sock and not @sock.closed? and @sock.stat.readable?
  end
end