diff --git a/include/ntfs-3g/endians.h b/include/ntfs-3g/endians.h
index 84c39c9b..b0d1e63a 100644
--- a/include/ntfs-3g/endians.h
+++ b/include/ntfs-3g/endians.h
@@ -310,4 +310,6 @@
 
 #define be32_eq(a, b) ((a) == (b))
 
+#define le16_cmpz(a) (!(a))
+
 #endif /* defined _NTFS_ENDIANS_H */
diff --git a/libntfs-3g/acls.c b/libntfs-3g/acls.c
index fe8ba09c..bfde41c1 100644
--- a/libntfs-3g/acls.c
+++ b/libntfs-3g/acls.c
@@ -837,13 +837,13 @@ int ntfs_inherit_acl(const ACL *oldacl, ACL *newacl,
 					pauthace->mask |= pnewace->mask;
 				} else {
 					pauthace = pnewace;
-					if (inherited)
+					if (!le16_cmpz(inherited))
 						pnewace->flags |= INHERITED_ACE;
 					dst += acesz;
 					newcnt++;
 				}
 			} else {
-				if (inherited)
+				if (!le16_cmpz(inherited))
 					pnewace->flags |= INHERITED_ACE;
 				dst += acesz;
 				newcnt++;
@@ -871,7 +871,7 @@ int ntfs_inherit_acl(const ACL *oldacl, ACL *newacl,
 				pnewace->flags &= ~(OBJECT_INHERIT_ACE
 						| CONTAINER_INHERIT_ACE
 						| INHERIT_ONLY_ACE);
-				if (inherited)
+				if (!le16_cmpz(inherited))
 					pnewace->flags |= INHERITED_ACE;
 				if ((pnewace->type == ACCESS_ALLOWED_ACE_TYPE)
 				    && pownerace
@@ -889,7 +889,7 @@ int ntfs_inherit_acl(const ACL *oldacl, ACL *newacl,
 				pnewace->flags &= ~(OBJECT_INHERIT_ACE
 						| CONTAINER_INHERIT_ACE
 						| INHERIT_ONLY_ACE);
-				if (inherited)
+				if (!le16_cmpz(inherited))
 					pnewace->flags |= INHERITED_ACE;
 				dst += gsidsz + 8;
 				newcnt++;
@@ -922,7 +922,7 @@ int ntfs_inherit_acl(const ACL *oldacl, ACL *newacl,
 				else
 					pnewace->flags &= ~INHERIT_ONLY_ACE;
 			}
-			if (inherited)
+			if (!le16_cmpz(inherited))
 				pnewace->flags |= INHERITED_ACE;
 			/*
 			 * Prepare grouping similar ACE for authenticated users
diff --git a/libntfs-3g/attrib.c b/libntfs-3g/attrib.c
index 2180d3a5..b2686418 100644
--- a/libntfs-3g/attrib.c
+++ b/libntfs-3g/attrib.c
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ s64 ntfs_get_attribute_value(const ntfs_volume *vol,
 	 * attribute.  Windows does not complain about invalid flags and chkdsk
 	 * does not detect or fix them so we need to cope with it, too.
 	 */
-	if (!le32_eq(a->type, AT_ATTRIBUTE_LIST) && a->flags) {
+	if (!le32_eq(a->type, AT_ATTRIBUTE_LIST) && !le16_cmpz(a->flags)) {
 		ntfs_log_error("Non-zero (%04x) attribute flags. Cannot handle "
 			       "this yet.\n", le16_to_cpu(a->flags));
 		errno = EOPNOTSUPP;
@@ -503,14 +503,14 @@ ntfs_attr *ntfs_attr_open(ntfs_inode *ni, const ATTR_TYPES type,
 				sle64_to_cpu(a->allocated_size),
 				sle64_to_cpu(a->data_size),
 				sle64_to_cpu(a->initialized_size),
-				cs ? sle64_to_cpu(a->compressed_size) : 0,
-				cs ? a->compression_unit : 0);
+				!le16_cmpz(cs) ? sle64_to_cpu(a->compressed_size) : 0,
+				!le16_cmpz(cs) ? a->compression_unit : 0);
 	} else {
 		s64 l = le32_to_cpu(a->value_length);
 		ntfs_attr_init(na, FALSE, a->flags,
 				a->flags & ATTR_IS_ENCRYPTED,
 				a->flags & ATTR_IS_SPARSE, (l + 7) & ~7, l, l,
-				cs ? (l + 7) & ~7 : 0, 0);
+				!le16_cmpz(cs) ? (l + 7) & ~7 : 0, 0);
 	}
 	ntfs_attr_put_search_ctx(ctx);
 out:
@@ -5819,11 +5819,11 @@ retry:
 			a->allocated_size = cpu_to_sle64(na->allocated_size);
 			spcomp = na->data_flags
 				& (ATTR_IS_COMPRESSED | ATTR_IS_SPARSE);
-			if (spcomp)
+			if (!le16_cmpz(spcomp))
 				a->compressed_size = cpu_to_sle64(na->compressed_size);
 			if (le32_eq(na->type, AT_DATA) && (na->name == AT_UNNAMED)) {
 				na->ni->allocated_size
-					= (spcomp
+					= (!le16_cmpz(spcomp)
 						? na->compressed_size
 						: na->allocated_size);
 				NInoFileNameSetDirty(na->ni);
diff --git a/libntfs-3g/dir.c b/libntfs-3g/dir.c
index d14909e5..4624fc31 100644
--- a/libntfs-3g/dir.c
+++ b/libntfs-3g/dir.c
@@ -2026,7 +2026,7 @@ search:
 		ntfs_log_error("Could not delete inode cache entry for %s\n",
 			pathname);
 #endif
-	if (ni->mrec->link_count) {
+	if (!le16_cmpz(ni->mrec->link_count)) {
 		ntfs_inode_update_times(ni, NTFS_UPDATE_CTIME);
 		goto ok;
 	}
diff --git a/libntfs-3g/mft.c b/libntfs-3g/mft.c
index c56303a1..4b3941ca 100644
--- a/libntfs-3g/mft.c
+++ b/libntfs-3g/mft.c
@@ -1457,10 +1457,10 @@ found_free_rec:
 		free(m);
 		goto undo_mftbmp_alloc;
 	}
-	if (seq_no)
+	if (!le16_cmpz(seq_no))
 		m->sequence_number = seq_no;
 	seq_no = usn;
-	if (seq_no && !le16_eq(seq_no, const_cpu_to_le16(0xffff)))
+	if (!le16_cmpz(seq_no) && !le16_eq(seq_no, const_cpu_to_le16(0xffff)))
 		*(le16*)((u8*)m + le16_to_cpu(m->usa_ofs)) = usn;
 	/* Set the mft record itself in use. */
 	m->flags |= MFT_RECORD_IN_USE;
@@ -1760,10 +1760,10 @@ found_free_rec:
 		free(m);
 		goto undo_mftbmp_alloc;
 	}
-	if (seq_no)
+	if (!le16_cmpz(seq_no))
 		m->sequence_number = seq_no;
 	seq_no = usn;
-	if (seq_no && !le16_eq(seq_no, const_cpu_to_le16(0xffff)))
+	if (!le16_cmpz(seq_no) && !le16_eq(seq_no, const_cpu_to_le16(0xffff)))
 		*(le16*)((u8*)m + le16_to_cpu(m->usa_ofs)) = usn;
 	/* Set the mft record itself in use. */
 	m->flags |= MFT_RECORD_IN_USE;
diff --git a/libntfs-3g/reparse.c b/libntfs-3g/reparse.c
index 2a06a7a7..86d8c5e6 100644
--- a/libntfs-3g/reparse.c
+++ b/libntfs-3g/reparse.c
@@ -507,7 +507,7 @@ static char *ntfs_get_fulllink(ntfs_volume *vol, ntfschar *junction,
 			 */
 	if ((count >= 7)
 	    && !memcmp(junction,dir_junction_head,8)
-	    && junction[4]
+	    && !le16_cmpz(junction[4])
 	    && le16_eq(junction[5], const_cpu_to_le16(':'))
 	    && le16_eq(junction[6], const_cpu_to_le16('\\')))
 		kind = DIR_JUNCTION;
@@ -529,7 +529,7 @@ static char *ntfs_get_fulllink(ntfs_volume *vol, ntfschar *junction,
 			 */
 	if ((kind == DIR_JUNCTION)
 	    && (count >= 7)
-	    && junction[7]
+	    && !le16_cmpz(junction[7])
 	    && !ntfs_drive_letter(vol, junction[4])) {
 		target = search_absolute(vol,&junction[7],count - 7, isdir);
 		if (target) {
@@ -609,7 +609,7 @@ static char *ntfs_get_abslink(ntfs_volume *vol, ntfschar *junction,
 			 * where \ is an individual char and x a non-null char
 			 */
 	if ((count >= 3)
-	    && junction[0]
+	    && !le16_cmpz(junction[0])
 	    && le16_eq(junction[1], const_cpu_to_le16(':'))
 	    && le16_eq(junction[2], const_cpu_to_le16('\\')))
 		kind = FULL_PATH;
@@ -630,7 +630,7 @@ static char *ntfs_get_abslink(ntfs_volume *vol, ntfschar *junction,
 			 */
 	if (((kind == FULL_PATH)
 	    && (count >= 3)
-	    && junction[3]
+	    && !le16_cmpz(junction[3])
 	    && !ntfs_drive_letter(vol, junction[0]))
 	    || (kind == ABS_PATH)) {
 		if (kind == ABS_PATH)
diff --git a/libntfs-3g/unistr.c b/libntfs-3g/unistr.c
index 079c6093..9055ff4f 100644
--- a/libntfs-3g/unistr.c
+++ b/libntfs-3g/unistr.c
@@ -456,7 +456,7 @@ static int utf16_to_utf8_size(const ntfschar *ins, const int ins_len, int outs_l
 	BOOL surrog;
 
 	surrog = FALSE;
-	for (i = 0; i < ins_len && ins[i]; i++) {
+	for (i = 0; i < ins_len && !le16_cmpz(ins[i]); i++) {
 		unsigned short c = le16_to_cpu(ins[i]);
 		if (surrog) {
 			if ((c >= 0xdc00) && (c < 0xe000)) {
@@ -538,7 +538,7 @@ static int ntfs_utf16_to_utf8(const ntfschar *ins, const int ins_len,
 
 	t = *outs;
 
-	for (i = 0; i < ins_len && ins[i]; i++) {
+	for (i = 0; i < ins_len && !le16_cmpz(ins[i]); i++) {
 	    unsigned short c = le16_to_cpu(ins[i]);
 			/* size not double-checked */
 		if (halfpair) {
diff --git a/ntfsprogs/mkntfs.c b/ntfsprogs/mkntfs.c
index 3d77ed98..ec0df763 100644
--- a/ntfsprogs/mkntfs.c
+++ b/ntfsprogs/mkntfs.c
@@ -2459,7 +2459,7 @@ static int upgrade_to_large_index(MFT_RECORD *m, const char *name,
 		goto err_out;
 	}
 	a = ctx->attr;
-	if (a->non_resident || a->flags) {
+	if (a->non_resident || !le16_cmpz(a->flags)) {
 		err = -EINVAL;
 		goto err_out;
 	}
diff --git a/ntfsprogs/ntfsfix.c b/ntfsprogs/ntfsfix.c
index 21035fc7..20b06dd7 100644
--- a/ntfsprogs/ntfsfix.c
+++ b/ntfsprogs/ntfsfix.c
@@ -860,7 +860,7 @@ static BOOL attrlist_selfloc_condition(struct MFT_SELF_LOCATED *selfloc)
 					>> vol->cluster_size_bits;
 			levcn = cpu_to_le64(vcn);
 			while ((length > 0)
-			    && al->length
+			    && !le16_cmpz(al->length)
 			    && (!le32_eq(al->type, AT_DATA)
 				|| !sle64_eq(al->lowest_vcn, levcn))) {
 				length -= le16_to_cpu(al->length);
@@ -868,7 +868,7 @@ static BOOL attrlist_selfloc_condition(struct MFT_SELF_LOCATED *selfloc)
 					((char*)al + le16_to_cpu(al->length));
 			}
 			if ((length > 0)
-			    && al->length
+			    && !le16_cmpz(al->length)
 			    && le32_eq(al->type, AT_DATA)
 			    && !al->name_length
 			    && sle64_eq(al->lowest_vcn, levcn)
diff --git a/ntfsprogs/ntfsinfo.c b/ntfsprogs/ntfsinfo.c
index b87ed337..3f46eaab 100644
--- a/ntfsprogs/ntfsinfo.c
+++ b/ntfsprogs/ntfsinfo.c
@@ -821,7 +821,7 @@ static void ntfs_dump_filename(const char *indent,
 				le16_to_cpu(file_name_attr->packed_ea_size),
 				(unsigned)
 				le16_to_cpu(file_name_attr->packed_ea_size));
-		if (file_name_attr->reserved)
+		if (!le16_cmpz(file_name_attr->reserved))
 			printf("%sReserved:\t\t %d (0x%x)\n", indent,
 					(unsigned)
 					le16_to_cpu(file_name_attr->reserved),
@@ -2188,7 +2188,7 @@ static void ntfs_dump_inode_general_info(ntfs_inode *inode)
 			(unsigned)le16_to_cpu(mrec->attrs_offset));
 
 	printf("MFT Record Flags:\t ");
-	if (inode_flags) {
+	if (!le16_cmpz(inode_flags)) {
 		if (MFT_RECORD_IN_USE & inode_flags) {
 			printf("IN_USE ");
 			inode_flags &= ~MFT_RECORD_IN_USE;
@@ -2206,7 +2206,7 @@ static void ntfs_dump_inode_general_info(ntfs_inode *inode)
 			printf("VIEW_INDEX ");
 			inode_flags &= ~MFT_RECORD_IS_VIEW_INDEX;
 		}
-		if (inode_flags)
+		if (!le16_cmpz(inode_flags))
 			printf("UNKNOWN: 0x%04x", (unsigned)le16_to_cpu(
 						inode_flags));
 	} else {