diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/AutoComplete.py b/Lib/idlelib/AutoComplete.py
index ac0827c..9d9a81e 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/AutoComplete.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/AutoComplete.py
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@
 
 import __main__
 
+SEPS = os.sep
+if os.altsep:  # e.g. '/' on Windows...
+    SEPS += os.altsep
+
 class AutoComplete:
 
     menudefs = [
@@ -70,7 +74,7 @@
         if lastchar == ".":
             self._open_completions_later(False, False, False,
                                          COMPLETE_ATTRIBUTES)
-        elif lastchar == os.sep:
+        elif lastchar in SEPS:
             self._open_completions_later(False, False, False,
                                          COMPLETE_FILES)
 
@@ -126,7 +130,7 @@
                 i -= 1
             comp_start = curline[i:j]
             j = i
-            while i and curline[i-1] in FILENAME_CHARS+os.sep:
+            while i and curline[i-1] in FILENAME_CHARS + SEPS:
                 i -= 1
             comp_what = curline[i:j]
         elif hp.is_in_code() and (not mode or mode==COMPLETE_ATTRIBUTES):
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/AutoCompleteWindow.py b/Lib/idlelib/AutoCompleteWindow.py
index ca9109b..298177f 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/AutoCompleteWindow.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/AutoCompleteWindow.py
@@ -54,9 +54,9 @@
         self.lastkey_was_tab = False
 
     def _change_start(self, newstart):
+        min_len = min(len(self.start), len(newstart))
         i = 0
-        while i < len(self.start) and i < len(newstart) and \
-              self.start[i] == newstart[i]:
+        while i < min_len and self.start[i] == newstart[i]:
             i += 1
         if i < len(self.start):
             self.widget.delete("%s+%dc" % (self.startindex, i),
@@ -98,13 +98,17 @@
                 i = m + 1
         last = i-1
 
+        if first == last: # only one possible completion
+            return self.completions[first]
+
         # We should return the maximum prefix of first and last
+        first_comp = self.completions[first]
+        last_comp = self.completions[last]
+        min_len = min(len(first_comp), len(last_comp))
         i = len(s)
-        while len(self.completions[first]) > i and \
-              len(self.completions[last]) > i and \
-              self.completions[first][i] == self.completions[last][i]:
+        while i < min_len and first_comp[i] == last_comp[i]:
             i += 1
-        return self.completions[first][:i]
+        return first_comp[:i]
 
     def _selection_changed(self):
         """Should be called when the selection of the Listbox has changed.
@@ -118,8 +122,9 @@
         if self._binary_search(lts) == cursel:
             newstart = lts
         else:
+            min_len = min(len(lts), len(selstart))
             i = 0
-            while i < len(lts) and i < len(selstart) and lts[i] == selstart[i]:
+            while i < min_len and lts[i] == selstart[i]:
                 i += 1
             newstart = selstart[:i]
         self._change_start(newstart)
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/EditorWindow.py b/Lib/idlelib/EditorWindow.py
index 2b5c527..e049b66 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/EditorWindow.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/EditorWindow.py
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@
         text.bind("<Right>", self.move_at_edge_if_selection(1))
         text.bind("<<del-word-left>>", self.del_word_left)
         text.bind("<<del-word-right>>", self.del_word_right)
+        text.bind("<<beginning-of-line>>", self.home_callback)
 
         if flist:
             flist.inversedict[self] = key
@@ -277,6 +278,50 @@
         self.flist.new(dirname)
         return "break"
 
+    def home_callback(self, event):
+        if (event.state & 12) != 0 and event.keysym == "Home":
+            # state&1==shift, state&4==control, state&8==alt
+            return # <Modifier-Home>; fall back to class binding
+
+        if self.text.index("iomark") and \
+           self.text.compare("iomark", "<=", "insert lineend") and \
+           self.text.compare("insert linestart", "<=", "iomark"):
+            insertpt = int(self.text.index("iomark").split(".")[1])
+        else:
+            line = self.text.get("insert linestart", "insert lineend")
+            for insertpt in xrange(len(line)):
+                if line[insertpt] not in (' ','\t'):
+                    break
+            else:
+                insertpt=len(line)
+
+        lineat = int(self.text.index("insert").split('.')[1])
+
+        if insertpt == lineat:
+            insertpt = 0
+
+        dest = "insert linestart+"+str(insertpt)+"c"
+
+        if (event.state&1) == 0:
+            # shift not pressed
+            self.text.tag_remove("sel", "1.0", "end")
+        else:
+            if not self.text.index("sel.first"):
+                self.text.mark_set("anchor","insert")
+
+            first = self.text.index(dest)
+            last = self.text.index("anchor")
+
+            if self.text.compare(first,">",last):
+                first,last = last,first
+
+            self.text.tag_remove("sel", "1.0", "end")
+            self.text.tag_add("sel", first, last)
+
+        self.text.mark_set("insert", dest)
+        self.text.see("insert")
+        return "break"
+
     def set_status_bar(self):
         self.status_bar = self.MultiStatusBar(self.top)
         if macosxSupport.runningAsOSXApp():
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/PyShell.py b/Lib/idlelib/PyShell.py
index 7c66088..7799232 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/PyShell.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/PyShell.py
@@ -806,7 +806,6 @@
         text.bind("<<newline-and-indent>>", self.enter_callback)
         text.bind("<<plain-newline-and-indent>>", self.linefeed_callback)
         text.bind("<<interrupt-execution>>", self.cancel_callback)
-        text.bind("<<beginning-of-line>>", self.home_callback)
         text.bind("<<end-of-file>>", self.eof_callback)
         text.bind("<<open-stack-viewer>>", self.open_stack_viewer)
         text.bind("<<toggle-debugger>>", self.toggle_debugger)
@@ -1048,16 +1047,6 @@
             self.top.quit()
         return "break"
 
-    def home_callback(self, event):
-        if event.state != 0 and event.keysym == "Home":
-            return # <Modifier-Home>; fall back to class binding
-        if self.text.compare("iomark", "<=", "insert") and \
-           self.text.compare("insert linestart", "<=", "iomark"):
-            self.text.mark_set("insert", "iomark")
-            self.text.tag_remove("sel", "1.0", "end")
-            self.text.see("insert")
-            return "break"
-
     def linefeed_callback(self, event):
         # Insert a linefeed without entering anything (still autoindented)
         if self.reading:
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/configHandler.py b/Lib/idlelib/configHandler.py
index 4906578..9b995cf 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/configHandler.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/configHandler.py
@@ -204,7 +204,10 @@
             if not os.path.exists(userDir):
                 warn = ('\n Warning: os.path.expanduser("~") points to\n '+
                         userDir+',\n but the path does not exist.\n')
-                sys.stderr.write(warn)
+                try:
+                    sys.stderr.write(warn)
+                except IOError:
+                    pass
                 userDir = '~'
         if userDir == "~": # still no path to home!
             # traditionally IDLE has defaulted to os.getcwd(), is this adequate?
@@ -247,7 +250,10 @@
                            ' from section %r.\n'
                            ' returning default value: %r\n' %
                            (option, section, default))
-                sys.stderr.write(warning)
+                try:
+                    sys.stderr.write(warning)
+                except IOError:
+                    pass
             return default
 
     def SetOption(self, configType, section, option, value):
@@ -356,7 +362,10 @@
                            '\n from theme %r.\n'
                            ' returning default value: %r\n' %
                            (element, themeName, theme[element]))
-                sys.stderr.write(warning)
+                try:
+                    sys.stderr.write(warning)
+                except IOError:
+                    pass
             colour=cfgParser.Get(themeName,element,default=theme[element])
             theme[element]=colour
         return theme
@@ -610,7 +619,10 @@
                                '\n from key set %r.\n'
                                ' returning default value: %r\n' %
                                (event, keySetName, keyBindings[event]))
-                    sys.stderr.write(warning)
+                    try:
+                        sys.stderr.write(warning)
+                    except IOError:
+                        pass
         return keyBindings
 
     def GetExtraHelpSourceList(self,configSet):