diff --git a/filewriter.go b/filewriter.go
index e1ee736..bf4bcf6 100644
--- a/filewriter.go
+++ b/filewriter.go
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ func WriteTo(nd Node, fpath string) error {
 	case *Symlink:
 		return os.Symlink(nd.Target, fpath)
 	case File:
-		f, err := os.OpenFile(fpath, os.O_EXCL|os.O_CREATE|os.O_WRONLY, 0666)
+		f, err := createNewFile(fpath)
 		defer f.Close()
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
diff --git a/filewriter_unix.go b/filewriter_unix.go
index 4c2f09b..1589594 100644
--- a/filewriter_unix.go
+++ b/filewriter_unix.go
@@ -3,10 +3,18 @@
 
 package files
 
-import "strings"
+import (
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+	"syscall"
+)
 
 var invalidChars = `/` + "\x00"
 
 func isValidFilename(filename string) bool {
 	return !strings.ContainsAny(filename, invalidChars)
 }
+
+func createNewFile(path string) (*os.File, error) {
+	return os.OpenFile(path, os.O_EXCL|os.O_CREATE|os.O_WRONLY|syscall.O_NOFOLLOW, 0666)
+}
diff --git a/filewriter_windows.go b/filewriter_windows.go
index 21aae01..4392e0e 100644
--- a/filewriter_windows.go
+++ b/filewriter_windows.go
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@
 
 package files
 
-import "strings"
+import (
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+)
 
 var invalidChars = `<>:"/\|?*` + "\x00"
 
@@ -37,3 +40,7 @@ func isValidFilename(filename string) bool {
 	return !strings.ContainsAny(filename, invalidChars) &&
 		!isReservedName
 }
+
+func createNewFile(path string) (*os.File, error) {
+	return os.OpenFile(path, os.O_EXCL|os.O_CREATE|os.O_WRONLY, 0666)
+}