Using unmanaged C++ on a Windows platform, is there a simple way to detect the number of processor cores my host machine has?
You can use GetLogicalProcessorInformation to get the info you need.
ETA:
As mentioned in the question a commenter linked to, another (easier) way to do it would be via GetSystemInfo:
SYSTEM_INFO sysinfo;
GetSystemInfo( &sysinfo );
numCPU = sysinfo.dwNumberOfProcessors;
Seems like GetLogicalProcessorInformation would give you more detailed info, but if all you need is the number of processors, GetSystemInfo would probably work just fine.