diff --git a/src/metamath.c b/src/metamath.c
index 696c3acb..40169094 100644
--- a/src/metamath.c
+++ b/src/metamath.c
@@ -717,6 +717,14 @@
 #include "mmword.h"
 #include "mmwtex.h"
 
+// Windows doesn't have the <unistd> header, but it has an isatty equivalent
+#ifdef _WIN32
+#include <io.h>
+#define _isatty isatty
+#else
+#include <unistd.h>
+#endif
+
 void command(int argc, char *argv[]);
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
@@ -914,7 +922,8 @@ void command(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   double timeIncr = 0;
   flag printTime;  /* Set by "/ TIME" in SAVE PROOF and others */
 
-  flag defaultScrollMode = 1; /* Default to prompted mode */
+  /* Default to prompted mode if run interactively, else continuous mode */
+  flag defaultScrollMode = isatty(STDIN_FILENO) != 0;
 
   /* Initialization to avoid compiler warning (should not be theoretically
      necessary) */