diff --git a/core/mem/mem.odin b/core/mem/mem.odin
index 4c6d33a00..fddb1dd72 100644
--- a/core/mem/mem.odin
+++ b/core/mem/mem.odin
@@ -135,16 +135,15 @@ ptr_sub :: proc(a, b: $P/^$T) -> int {
 }
 
 slice_ptr :: proc(ptr: ^$T, len: int) -> []T {
-	assert(len >= 0);
-	return transmute([]T)Raw_Slice{data = ptr, len = len};
+	return ([^]T)(ptr)[:len];
 }
 
 byte_slice :: #force_inline proc "contextless" (data: rawptr, len: int) -> []byte {
-	return transmute([]u8)Raw_Slice{data=data, len=max(len, 0)};
+	return ([^]u8)(data)[:max(len, 0)];
 }
 @(deprecated="use byte_slice")
 slice_ptr_to_bytes :: proc(data: rawptr, len: int) -> []byte {
-	return transmute([]u8)Raw_Slice{data=data, len=max(len, 0)};
+	return ([^]u8)(data)[:max(len, 0)];
 }
 
 
diff --git a/core/os/env_windows.odin b/core/os/env_windows.odin
index 8a4cee967..5eb827e16 100644
--- a/core/os/env_windows.odin
+++ b/core/os/env_windows.odin
@@ -65,22 +65,19 @@ unset_env :: proc(key: string) -> Errno {
 // environ returns a copy of strings representing the environment, in the form "key=value"
 // NOTE: the slice of strings and the strings with be allocated using the supplied allocator
 environ :: proc(allocator := context.allocator) -> []string {
-	envs := win32.GetEnvironmentStringsW();
+	envs := cast([^]win32.WCHAR)(win32.GetEnvironmentStringsW());
 	if envs == nil {
 		return nil;
 	}
 	defer win32.FreeEnvironmentStringsW(envs);
 
 	r := make([dynamic]string, 0, 50, allocator);
-	for from, i, p := 0, 0, envs; true; i += 1 {
-		c := (^u16)(uintptr(p) + uintptr(i*2))^;
-		if c == 0 {
+	for from, i := 0, 0; true; i += 1 {
+		if c := envs[i]; c == 0 {
 			if i <= from {
 				break;
 			}
-			w := mem.slice_ptr(mem.ptr_offset(p, from), i-from);
-
-			append(&r, win32.utf16_to_utf8(w, allocator));
+			append(&r, win32.utf16_to_utf8(envs[from:i], allocator));
 			from = i + 1;
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/core/runtime/core_builtin.odin b/core/runtime/core_builtin.odin
index f4dc6aebe..0fc72fd69 100644
--- a/core/runtime/core_builtin.odin
+++ b/core/runtime/core_builtin.odin
@@ -303,9 +303,9 @@ append_elem :: proc(array: ^$T/[dynamic]$E, arg: E, loc := #caller_location)  {
 	if cap(array)-len(array) > 0 {
 		a := (^Raw_Dynamic_Array)(array);
 		when size_of(E) != 0 {
-			data := (^E)(a.data);
+			data := ([^]E)(a.data);
 			assert(condition=data != nil, loc=loc);
-			intrinsics.ptr_offset(data, a.len)^ = arg;
+			data[a.len] = arg;
 		}
 		a.len += 1;
 	}
@@ -331,9 +331,9 @@ append_elems :: proc(array: ^$T/[dynamic]$E, args: ..E, loc := #caller_location)
 	if arg_len > 0 {
 		a := (^Raw_Dynamic_Array)(array);
 		when size_of(E) != 0 {
-			data := (^E)(a.data);
+			data := ([^]E)(a.data);
 			assert(condition=data != nil, loc=loc);
-			intrinsics.mem_copy(intrinsics.ptr_offset(data, a.len), &args[0], size_of(E) * arg_len);
+			intrinsics.mem_copy(&data[a.len], raw_data(args), size_of(E) * arg_len);
 		}
 		a.len += arg_len;
 	}
diff --git a/core/sys/windows/types.odin b/core/sys/windows/types.odin
index bb60ae193..9e55a463d 100644
--- a/core/sys/windows/types.odin
+++ b/core/sys/windows/types.odin
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ LONG64  :: i64;
 PDWORD_PTR :: ^DWORD_PTR;
 ATOM :: distinct WORD;
 
-wstring :: ^WCHAR;
+wstring :: [^]WCHAR;
 
 PBYTE :: ^BYTE;
 LPBYTE :: ^BYTE;