Is there a way to force OS X / Finder to use Windows File naming conventions?
I'm not sure such a plugin exists, but A Better Finder Rename is a very powerful app which, in addition to a million and one ways to rename files, has a function to translate OS X filenames for Windows NTFS/SMB compatibility:



I used it a few years ago to process ~35,000 PDF files made on a Mac, but which needed to be stored on a SMB server. Worked like a charm, and it is FAST!