diff --git a/src/main/java/envoy/client/Client.java b/src/main/java/envoy/client/Client.java
index 522d44f..5b9a2b8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/envoy/client/Client.java
+++ b/src/main/java/envoy/client/Client.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package envoy.client;
 
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
+
 import javax.ws.rs.client.ClientBuilder;
 import javax.ws.rs.client.Entity;
 import javax.ws.rs.client.WebTarget;
@@ -28,16 +30,18 @@ public class Client {
 	private Config			config;
 	private User			sender, recipient;
 
+	private static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(Client.class.getSimpleName());
+
 	public Client(Config config, String username) {
 		this.config	= config;
 		sender		= getUser(username);
-		System.out.println("ID: " + sender.getID());
+
+		logger.info("ID: " +  sender.getID());
 	}
 
 	private <T, R> R post(String uri, T body, Class<R> responseBodyClass) {
 		javax.ws.rs.client.Client	client	= ClientBuilder.newClient();
 		WebTarget					target	= client.target(uri);
-
 		Response	response		= target.request().post(Entity.entity(body, "application/xml"));
 		R			responseBody	= response.readEntity(responseBodyClass);
 		response.close();
@@ -92,7 +96,7 @@ public class Client {
 		if (returnSenderSync.getUsers().size() == 1) {
 			returnSender = returnSenderSync.getUsers().get(0);
 		} else {
-			System.out.println("ERROR exiting...");
+			logger.warning("ERROR exiting...");
 		}
 
 		return returnSender;
diff --git a/src/main/java/envoy/client/Config.java b/src/main/java/envoy/client/Config.java
index c31c972..545df2f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/envoy/client/Config.java
+++ b/src/main/java/envoy/client/Config.java
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ public class Config {
 	 * 
 	 * @param properties a {@link Properties} object containing information about
 	 *                   the server and port, as well as the path to the local
-	 *                   database
+	 *                   database and the synchronization timeout
 	 * @since Envoy v0.1-alpha
 	 */
 	public void load(Properties properties) {
@@ -64,8 +64,6 @@ public class Config {
 				case "-db":
 					localDB = new File(args[++i]);
 			}
-		if (localDB == null) localDB = new File(".\\localDB");
-		if (syncTimeout == 0) syncTimeout = 1000;
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/src/main/java/envoy/client/LocalDB.java b/src/main/java/envoy/client/LocalDB.java
index 8caea75..1989f89 100644
--- a/src/main/java/envoy/client/LocalDB.java
+++ b/src/main/java/envoy/client/LocalDB.java
@@ -302,4 +302,4 @@ public class LocalDB {
 	 * @since Envoy v0.1-alpha
 	 */
 	public User getUser() { return sender; }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/java/envoy/client/ui/ChatWindow.java b/src/main/java/envoy/client/ui/ChatWindow.java
index 7a5c67c..cefe886 100644
--- a/src/main/java/envoy/client/ui/ChatWindow.java
+++ b/src/main/java/envoy/client/ui/ChatWindow.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import java.awt.event.KeyAdapter;
 import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
 import java.awt.event.WindowAdapter;
 import java.awt.event.WindowEvent;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
 import javax.swing.DefaultListModel;
 import javax.swing.JButton;
@@ -56,6 +57,8 @@ public class ChatWindow extends JFrame {
 	private Chat		currentChat;
 
 	private JTextArea messageEnterTextArea;
+	
+	private static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(ChatWindow.class.getSimpleName());
 
 	public ChatWindow(Client client, LocalDB localDB) {
 		this.client		= client;
@@ -184,7 +187,7 @@ public class ChatWindow extends JFrame {
 				SettingsScreen.open(localDB.getUser().getName());
 			} catch (Exception e) {
 				SettingsScreen.open();
-				System.err.println("An error occured while opening the settings screen: " + e);
+				logger.warning("An error occured while opening the settings screen: " + e);
 				e.printStackTrace();
 			}
 		});
diff --git a/src/main/java/envoy/client/ui/Startup.java b/src/main/java/envoy/client/ui/Startup.java
index 6333a60..473e912 100644
--- a/src/main/java/envoy/client/ui/Startup.java
+++ b/src/main/java/envoy/client/ui/Startup.java
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package envoy.client.ui;
 import java.awt.EventQueue;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.logging.Level;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
 import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
 
@@ -24,41 +26,48 @@ import envoy.exception.EnvoyException;
  */
 public class Startup {
 
+	private static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(Client.class.getSimpleName());
+	
 	public static void main(String[] args) {
+		logger.setLevel(Level.ALL);
+		
 		Config config = Config.getInstance();
-		if (args.length > 0) {
-			config.load(args);
-		} else {
-			ClassLoader loader = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
-			try {
-				Properties configProperties = new Properties();
-				configProperties.load(loader.getResourceAsStream("client.properties"));
-				config.load(configProperties);
-			} catch (IOException e) {
-				e.printStackTrace();
-			}
+
+		// Load the configuration from client.properties first
+		ClassLoader loader = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
+		try {
+			Properties configProperties = new Properties();
+			configProperties.load(loader.getResourceAsStream("client.properties"));
+			config.load(configProperties);
+		} catch (IOException e) {
+			e.printStackTrace();
 		}
 
+		// Override configuration values with command line arguments
+		if (args.length > 0)
+			config.load(args);
+
 		if (!config.isInitialized()) {
-			System.err.println("Server or port are not defined. Exiting...");
+			logger.warning("Server or port are not defined. Exiting...");
+			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Error loading configuration values.", "Configuration error",
+					JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
 			System.exit(1);
 		}
 
 		String userName = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Please enter your username");
 		if (userName == null || userName.isEmpty()) {
-			System.err.println("User name is not set or empty. Exiting...");
+			logger.warning("User name is not set or empty. Exiting...");
 			System.exit(1);
 		}
-		Client	client	= new Client(config, userName);
-		LocalDB	localDB	= new LocalDB(client.getSender());
+		Client client = new Client(config, userName);
+		LocalDB localDB = new LocalDB(client.getSender());
 		try {
 			localDB.initializeDBFile(config.getLocalDB());
 		} catch (EnvoyException e) {
 			e.printStackTrace();
 			JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,
 					"Error while loading local database: " + e.toString() + "\nChats will not be stored locally.",
-					"Local DB error",
-					JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);
+					"Local DB error", JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);
 		}
 
 		EventQueue.invokeLater(() -> {