diff --git a/.npmignore b/.npmignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 34e4f5c298de294fa5c1c1769b6489eb047bde9a..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 5462c1f830bdbe79bf2b1fcfd811cd9799b4dd11..05e654af7e9fc8c5db40a64c0923cd23bb803adc 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -28,14 +28,21 @@ function bufferEq(a, b) {
 }
 
 bufferEq.install = function() {
-  Buffer.prototype.equal = SlowBuffer.prototype.equal = function equal(that) {
+  Buffer.prototype.equal = function equal(that) {
     return bufferEq(this, that);
   };
+  // SlowBuffer was removed in Node 25
+  if (SlowBuffer !== undefined) {
+    SlowBuffer.prototype.equal = Buffer.prototype.equal;
+  }
 };
 
 var origBufEqual = Buffer.prototype.equal;
-var origSlowBufEqual = SlowBuffer.prototype.equal;
+var origSlowBufEqual = SlowBuffer !== undefined ? SlowBuffer.prototype.equal : undefined;
 bufferEq.restore = function() {
   Buffer.prototype.equal = origBufEqual;
-  SlowBuffer.prototype.equal = origSlowBufEqual;
+  // SlowBuffer was removed in Node 25
+  if (SlowBuffer !== undefined) {
+    SlowBuffer.prototype.equal = origSlowBufEqual;
+  }
 };