diff --git a/core/alien/strings/strings.factor b/core/alien/strings/strings.factor
index 7ea9a0d263..c14a8a5cd4 100644
--- a/core/alien/strings/strings.factor
+++ b/core/alien/strings/strings.factor
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ io.encodings io.encodings.ascii io.encodings.utf16n
 io.encodings.utf8 io.streams.memory kernel kernel.private math
 namespaces sequences sequences.private strings strings.private
 system system.private ;
-USE: io.streams.byte-array ! for windows, do not delete!
 IN: alien.strings
 
 GENERIC# alien>string 1 ( c-ptr encoding -- string/f )
diff --git a/core/bootstrap/stage1.factor b/core/bootstrap/stage1.factor
index 8cbd98b686..1bb94a7b72 100644
--- a/core/bootstrap/stage1.factor
+++ b/core/bootstrap/stage1.factor
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ load-help? off
     "memory" require
 
     "io.streams.c" require
+    "io.streams.byte-array" require ! for utf16 on Windows
     "vocabs.loader" require
 
     "syntax" require