Probably not a lot of help, but:
Your release version (the exe) runs fine in my W8 VM
The debug version complains of a missing dll and won't run but doesn't crash.
Note that your project is for 32 bit application.
I compiled it in W7, VS2010, as is, same results as above, missing dll.
I then recompiled as a 64 bit program and the debug version runs OK in W8.
I compiled it in W8 VS 2012 and both versions run (32Bit and 64Bit) OK.
It never crashed. Do you have the latest SDK and VS updates?
Lou