diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 4e49142..0000000
--- a/build.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-dotnet build -o out/debug/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 3f7d210..f08201d 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 buypeeb
 ===
 
-a simple dotnet core program that allows you to track auctions on yahoo auctions japan, written in c#.
+a simple dotnet core program that allows you to track auctions on yahoo auctions japan, written in c#. designed for and with linux, but works on windows.
 
 ## quick start (arch linux)
 ```bash
@@ -13,31 +13,16 @@ dotnet run
 ---
 
 ## installing prerequisites
-you will need either:
-- [dotnet core sdk](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/) (recommended, it's the easiest to use)
-- [mono](https://www.mono-project.com/download/stable/) and [gtk sharp 3](https://github.com/GtkSharp/GtkSharp/)
+you'll need the [dotnet core sdk](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/)
 
 ### debian
-#### dotnet
 follow [these instructions](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/install/linux-debian) to add the dotnet repo and install dotnet-sdk.
 
-#### mono
-the packages you'll need are `mono-devel` and `gtk-sharp3`, so:
-```
-sudo apt install mono-devel gtk-sharp3
-```
-
 ### arch linux
-#### dotnet
 ```
 sudo pacman -S dotnet-sdk
 ```
 
-#### mono
-```
-sudo pacman -S mono gtk-sharp-3
-```
-
 ### windows
 - download and install ".NET Core SDK" from [this page](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download)
 - run `dotnet build` - this *should* pull in gtk3 automatically - if not, you'll need to [install it yourself](https://github.com/tschoonj/GTK-for-Windows-Runtime-Environment-Installer/releases/latest)
@@ -47,26 +32,27 @@ i have no idea how to install mono with gtksharp properly on windows, and believ
 ---
 
 ## compiling
-### dotnet
 ```
 dotnet build
 ```
 
-### mono
-it doesn't actually build with mono anymore because mono's C# version is too old, and these instructions are wrong anyway, but it's something like
-```
-mcs -pkg:gtk-sharp-3.0 -resource:ui/main.glade -resource:ui/add.glade -resource:ui/settings.glade *.cs
-```
-
 ---
 ## running
-### dotnet
 ```
 dotnet run
 ```
 
-### mono
-```
-mono ./BuypeebApp.exe
-```
+---
+## compiling a standalone version
+the standalone versions are rather big, so it's a good idea to compress them for distribution.
+### linux
+run `./release.sh`.
 
+the binary will be located at `./out/release/linux/buypeeb`, with a [zstandard](https://facebook.github.io/zstd/) compressed version at `buypeeb.tar.zst` in the same directory.
+
+### windows
+run `.\release.ps1`.
+
+the binary will be located at `.\out\release\windows\buybeep.exe`, with a zip compressed version at `buypeep.zip` in the same directory.
+
+unfortunately, however, this program won't work on machines that don't have GTK3 installed, and installing GTK3 is [quite an undertaking](https://www.gtk.org/docs/installations/windows/). a solution for this is [in the works](https://github.com/GtkSharp/GtkSharp/issues/119), but there's not really anything to be done about it right now.
diff --git a/release.ps1 b/release.ps1
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ad450d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --output ./out/release/windows/ -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:PublishTrimmed=true
+$compress = @{
+  Path = "out\release\windows\buypeeb.exe"
+  DestinationPath = "out\release\windows\buypeeb.zip"
+}
+Compress-Archive @compress
diff --git a/release.sh b/release.sh
index d0ec386..1f9fad1 100755
--- a/release.sh
+++ b/release.sh
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-x64 --output ./out/release/linux/ -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:PublishTrimmed=true
\ No newline at end of file
+dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-x64 --output ./out/release/linux/ -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:PublishTrimmed=true
+tar caf ./out/release/linux/buypeeb.tar.zst ./out/release/linux/buypeeb