diff --git a/common/mischelp.c b/common/mischelp.c
index 75ba60714..81dd501f8 100644
--- a/common/mischelp.c
+++ b/common/mischelp.c
@@ -49,6 +49,22 @@
 #include "mischelp.h"
 
 
+void
+wipememory (void *ptr, size_t len)
+{
+#if defined(HAVE_W32_SYSTEM) && defined(SecureZeroMemory)
+  SecureZeroMemory (ptr, len);
+#elif defined(HAVE_EXPLICIT_BZERO)
+  explicit_bzero (ptr, len);
+#else
+  /* Prevent compiler from optimizing away the call to memset by accessing
+     memset through volatile pointer. */
+  static void *(*volatile memset_ptr)(void *, int, size_t) = (void *)memset;
+  memset_ptr (ptr, 0, len);
+#endif
+}
+
+
 /* Check whether the files NAME1 and NAME2 are identical.  This is for
    example achieved by comparing the inode numbers of the files.  */
 int
diff --git a/common/mischelp.h b/common/mischelp.h
index 18ec96edf..bdee5a443 100644
--- a/common/mischelp.h
+++ b/common/mischelp.h
@@ -47,15 +47,9 @@ time_t timegm (struct tm *tm);
 #define DIM(v)		     (sizeof(v)/sizeof((v)[0]))
 #define DIMof(type,member)   DIM(((type *)0)->member)
 
-/* To avoid that a compiler optimizes certain memset calls away, these
-   macros may be used instead. */
-#define wipememory2(_ptr,_set,_len) do { \
-              volatile char *_vptr=(volatile char *)(_ptr); \
-              size_t _vlen=(_len); \
-              while(_vlen) { *_vptr=(_set); _vptr++; _vlen--; } \
-                  } while(0)
-#define wipememory(_ptr,_len) wipememory2(_ptr,0,_len)
-
+/* To avoid that a compiler optimizes certain memset calls away,
+   wipememory function may be used instead.  */
+void wipememory(void *ptr, size_t len);
 
 /* Include hacks which are mainly required for Slowaris.  */
 #ifdef GNUPG_COMMON_NEED_AFLOCAL
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 9d3eb41f0..89ef9398e 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1400,16 +1400,16 @@ AC_FUNC_FSEEKO
 AC_FUNC_VPRINTF
 AC_FUNC_FORK
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS([atexit canonicalize_file_name clock_gettime ctermid  \
-                fcntl flockfile fsync ftello ftruncate funlockfile   \
-                getaddrinfo getenv getpagesize getpwnam getpwuid     \
-                getrlimit getrusage gettimeofday gmtime_r            \
-                inet_ntop inet_pton isascii lstat                    \
-                memicmp memmove memrchr mmap nl_langinfo pipe        \
-                raise rand setenv setlocale setrlimit sigaction      \
-                sigprocmask stat stpcpy strcasecmp strerror strftime \
-                stricmp strlwr strncasecmp strpbrk strsep            \
-                strtol strtoul strtoull tcgetattr timegm times       \
-                ttyname unsetenv wait4 waitpid ])
+                explicit_bzero fcntl flockfile fsync ftello          \
+                ftruncate funlockfile getaddrinfo getenv getpagesize \
+                getpwnam getpwuid getrlimit getrusage gettimeofday   \
+                gmtime_r inet_ntop inet_pton isascii lstat memicmp   \
+                memmove memrchr mmap nl_langinfo pipe raise rand     \
+                setenv setlocale setrlimit sigaction sigprocmask     \
+                stat stpcpy strcasecmp strerror strftime stricmp     \
+                strlwr strncasecmp strpbrk strsep strtol strtoul     \
+                strtoull tcgetattr timegm times ttyname unsetenv     \
+                wait4 waitpid ])
 
 # On some systems (e.g. Solaris) nanosleep requires linking to librl.
 # Given that we use nanosleep only as an optimization over a select