Свободно компилируется на WATCOM C++, имеет минимальный код для запуска, остановки. Можно спокойно использовать как шаблон для много поточных программ.

FileMonitor.hpp

#pragma once
#include "stdafx.hpp"
 
class FileMonitor
{
    HANDLE hThreadEvent;
    HANDLE hThread;
    DWORD ThreadWorker();
    static DWORD WINAPI cbThreadWorker(LPVOID lpParam);
public:
    FileMonitor();
    ~FileMonitor();
    void Start();
    void Stop();
};

FileMonitor.cpp

#include "FileMonitor.hpp"
 
FileMonitor::FileMonitor()
{
    // Thread event
    hThreadEvent = CreateEvent(NULL, TRUE, FALSE, NULL);
    if ( hThreadEvent == NULL ) {
        return;
    }
}
 
DWORD WINAPI FileMonitor::cbThreadWorker(LPVOID lpParam)
{
    return reinterpret_cast<FileMonitor*>(lpParam)->ThreadWorker();
}
 
DWORD FileMonitor::ThreadWorker()
{
    while ( WaitForSingleObject(hThreadEvent, 0) != WAIT_OBJECT_0 ) {
        MessageBox(0, L"", L"Thread event", MB_ICONINFORMATION);
        Sleep(10000);
    }
    return ERROR_SUCCESS;
}
 
FileMonitor::~FileMonitor()
{
    CloseHandle(hThreadEvent);
    free(home);
}
 
void FileMonitor::Start()
{
    hThread = CreateThread(NULL, 0, cbThreadWorker, this, 0, NULL);
}
 
void FileMonitor::Stop()
{
    SetEvent(hThreadEvent);
    WaitForSingleObject(hThread, INFINITE);
}