diff --git a/Eigen/Core b/Eigen/Core
index 8189304d6..1ff197a28 100644
--- a/Eigen/Core
+++ b/Eigen/Core
@@ -1,30 +1,32 @@
 #ifndef EIGEN_CORE_H
 #define EIGEN_CORE_H
 
+// first thing Eigen does: prevent MSVC from committing suicide
 #ifdef _MSC_VER
-#pragma warning( disable : 4181 4244 )
+  #pragma warning( disable : 4181 4244 )
+  #if (_MSC_VER >= 1500) // 2008 or later
+    // Remember that usage of defined() in a #define is undefined by the standard
+    #ifdef _M_IX86_FP
+      #if _M_IX86_FP >= 2
+        #define EIGEN_SSE2_ON_MSVC_2008_OR_LATER
+      #endif
+    #endif   
+  #endif
 #endif
 
 #ifdef __GNUC__
-#define EIGEN_GNUC_AT_LEAST(x,y) ((__GNUC__>=x && __GNUC_MINOR__>=y) || __GNUC__>x)
+  #define EIGEN_GNUC_AT_LEAST(x,y) ((__GNUC__>=x && __GNUC_MINOR__>=y) || __GNUC__>x)
 #else
-#define EIGEN_GNUC_AT_LEAST(x,y) 0
+  #define EIGEN_GNUC_AT_LEAST(x,y) 0
+#endif
+
+// Remember that usage of defined() in a #define is undefined by the standard
+#if (defined __SSE2__) && ( (!defined __GNUC__) || EIGEN_GNUC_AT_LEAST(4,2) )
+  #define EIGEN_SSE2_BUT_NOT_OLD_GCC
 #endif
 
 #ifndef EIGEN_DONT_VECTORIZE
-  #define EIGEN_HAVE__SSE2__BUT_NOT_OLD_GCC ((defined __SSE2__) && ( (!defined __GNUC__) || EIGEN_GNUC_AT_LEAST(4,2) ))
-
-  // Now check for SSE2 with MSVC. Normally we'd formulate this in 1 line using defined() but this triggers MSVC bugs.  
-  #ifdef _M_IX86_FP
-    #if (_M_IX86_FP >= 2)
-      #define EIGEN_HAVE_MSVC_SSE2 1
-    #endif
-  #endif
-  #ifndef EIGEN_HAVE_MSVC_SSE2
-    #define EIGEN_HAVE_MSVC_SSE2 0
-  #endif
-
-  #if (EIGEN_HAVE__SSE2__BUT_NOT_OLD_GCC || EIGEN_HAVE_MSVC_SSE2)
+  #if defined (EIGEN_SSE2_BUT_NOT_OLD_GCC) || defined(EIGEN_SSE2_ON_MSVC_2008_OR_LATER)
     #define EIGEN_VECTORIZE
     #define EIGEN_VECTORIZE_SSE
     #include <emmintrin.h>
@@ -35,11 +37,11 @@
     #ifdef __SSSE3__
       #include <tmmintrin.h>
     #endif
-  #elif (defined __ALTIVEC__)
+  #elif defined __ALTIVEC__
     #define EIGEN_VECTORIZE
     #define EIGEN_VECTORIZE_ALTIVEC
     #include <altivec.h>
-    // We _need_ to #undef all these ugly tokens defined in <altivec.h>
+    // We need to #undef all these ugly tokens defined in <altivec.h>
     // => use __vector instead of vector
     #undef bool
     #undef vector
@@ -56,8 +58,16 @@
 #include <cstring>
 #include <string>
 
-#if(defined(_MSC_VER) && defined(EIGEN_VECTORIZE))
-#include <malloc.h> // for _aligned_malloc
+#if defined(EIGEN_SSE2_ON_MSVC_2008_OR_LATER) && defined(EIGEN_VECTORIZE)
+  #include <malloc.h> // for _aligned_malloc
+#endif
+
+#if (defined(_CPPUNWIND) || defined(__EXCEPTIONS)) && !defined(EIGEN_NO_EXCEPTIONS)
+  #define EIGEN_EXCEPTIONS
+#endif
+
+#ifdef EIGEN_EXCEPTIONS
+  #include <new>
 #endif
 
 namespace Eigen {
@@ -85,9 +95,9 @@ namespace Eigen {
 #include "src/Core/GenericPacketMath.h"
 
 #if defined EIGEN_VECTORIZE_SSE
-#include "src/Core/arch/SSE/PacketMath.h"
+  #include "src/Core/arch/SSE/PacketMath.h"
 #elif defined EIGEN_VECTORIZE_ALTIVEC
-#include "src/Core/arch/AltiVec/PacketMath.h"
+  #include "src/Core/arch/AltiVec/PacketMath.h"
 #endif
 
 #ifndef EIGEN_CACHEFRIENDLY_PRODUCT_THRESHOLD
@@ -97,10 +107,12 @@ namespace Eigen {
 #include "src/Core/Functors.h"
 #include "src/Core/MatrixBase.h"
 #include "src/Core/Coeffs.h"
+
 #ifndef EIGEN_PARSED_BY_DOXYGEN // work around Doxygen bug triggered by Assign.h r814874
                                 // at least confirmed with Doxygen 1.5.5 and 1.5.6
-#include "src/Core/Assign.h"
+  #include "src/Core/Assign.h"
 #endif
+
 #include "src/Core/MatrixStorage.h"
 #include "src/Core/NestByValue.h"
 #include "src/Core/Flagged.h"
diff --git a/Eigen/src/Core/util/Memory.h b/Eigen/src/Core/util/Memory.h
index 209e273cd..63f9a07fc 100644
--- a/Eigen/src/Core/util/Memory.h
+++ b/Eigen/src/Core/util/Memory.h
@@ -26,12 +26,10 @@
 #ifndef EIGEN_MEMORY_H
 #define EIGEN_MEMORY_H
 
-#ifdef EIGEN_VECTORIZE
-#ifndef _MSC_VER
+#if defined(EIGEN_VECTORIZE) && !defined(_MSC_VER)
 // it seems we cannot assume posix_memalign is defined in the stdlib header
 extern "C" int posix_memalign (void **, size_t, size_t) throw ();
 #endif
-#endif
 
 /** \internal
   * Static array automatically aligned if the total byte size is a multiple of 16
@@ -61,35 +59,47 @@ struct ei_byte_forcing_aligned_malloc
 {
   unsigned char c; // sizeof must be 1.
 };
-
 template<typename T> struct ei_force_aligned_malloc { enum { ret = 0 }; };
 template<> struct ei_force_aligned_malloc<ei_byte_forcing_aligned_malloc> { enum { ret = 1 }; };
 
-/** \internal allocates \a size * sizeof(\a T) bytes with 16 bytes alignment.
-  * */
+/** \internal allocates \a size * sizeof(\a T) bytes. If vectorization is enabled and T is such that a packet
+  * containts more than one T, then the returned pointer is guaranteed to have 16 bytes alignment.
+  * On allocation error, the returned pointer is undefined, but if exceptions are enabled then a std::bad_alloc is thrown.
+  */
 template<typename T>
 inline T* ei_aligned_malloc(size_t size)
 {
+  T* result;
+
   #ifdef EIGEN_VECTORIZE
   if(ei_packet_traits<T>::size>1 || ei_force_aligned_malloc<T>::ret)
   {
     #ifdef _MSC_VER
-      return static_cast<T*>(_aligned_malloc(size*sizeof(T), 16));
-    #else
-      void* ptr;
-      if(posix_memalign(&ptr, 16, size*sizeof(T))==0)
-        return static_cast<T*>(ptr);
-      else
-        return 0;
+      result = static_cast<T*>(_aligned_malloc(size*sizeof(T), 16));
+      #ifdef EIGEN_EXCEPTIONS
+        const int failed = (result == 0);
+      #endif
+    #else // not MSVC
+      #ifdef EIGEN_EXCEPTIONS
+        const int failed =
+      #endif
+      posix_memalign(reinterpret_cast<void**>(&result), 16, size*sizeof(T));
+    #endif
+	
+    #ifdef EIGEN_EXCEPTIONS
+      if(failed)
+        throw std::bad_alloc();
     #endif
   }
   else
   #endif
-    return new T[size]; // here we really want a new, not a malloc. Justification: if the user uses Eigen on
+    result = new T[size]; // here we really want a new, not a malloc. Justification: if the user uses Eigen on
       // some fancy scalar type such as multiple-precision numbers, and this type has a custom operator new,
       // then we want to honor this operator new! Anyway this type won't have vectorization so the vectorizing path
       // is irrelevant here. Yes, we should say somewhere in the docs that if the user uses a custom scalar type then
       // he can't have both vectorization and a custom operator new on his scalar type.
+	  
+  return result;
 }
 
 /** \internal free memory allocated with ei_aligned_malloc */
diff --git a/test/main.h b/test/main.h
index cfff229ca..73633687c 100644
--- a/test/main.h
+++ b/test/main.h
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ namespace Eigen
 #define EI_PP_CAT2(a,b) a ## b
 #define EI_PP_CAT(a,b) EI_PP_CAT2(a,b)
 
+#define EIGEN_NO_EXCEPTIONS // disabling throwing assertions on bad alloc -- somehow makes the tests crawl
+
 #ifndef EIGEN_NO_ASSERTION_CHECKING
 
   namespace Eigen