diff --git a/lib/log4j-1.2.15.jar b/lib/log4j-1.2.15.jar
deleted file mode 100644
index c930a6ab4..000000000
Binary files a/lib/log4j-1.2.15.jar and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 17e5348ee..5b5e3307b 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -55,16 +55,19 @@
             <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
             <artifactId>log4j-slf4j-impl</artifactId><!-- or log4j2 or logback or whatever-->
             <version>2.6.1</version>
+            <scope>optional</scope>
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
             <artifactId>log4j-api</artifactId>
             <version>2.6.1</version>
+            <scope>optional</scope>
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
             <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
             <version>2.6.1</version>
+            <scope>optional</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- core dependencies -->
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/simplejavamail/Mailer.java b/src/main/java/org/simplejavamail/Mailer.java
index 399ca5883..f02aea26d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/simplejavamail/Mailer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/simplejavamail/Mailer.java
@@ -362,6 +362,7 @@ public void run() {
 	}
 
 	private void sendMailClosure(Email email) {
+		LOGGER.trace("sending email...");
 		try {
 			// fill and send wrapped mime message parts
 			MimeMessage message = produceMimeMessage(email, session);
@@ -374,17 +375,20 @@ private void sendMailClosure(Email email) {
 
 			try {
 				if (proxyServer != null) {
+					LOGGER.trace("starting proxy bridge");
 					proxyServer.start();
 				}
 				try {
-				transport.connect();
-				transport.sendMessage(message, message.getAllRecipients());
-			} finally {
+					transport.connect();
+					transport.sendMessage(message, message.getAllRecipients());
+				} finally {
+					LOGGER.trace("closing transport");
 					//noinspection ThrowFromFinallyBlock
-				transport.close();
-			}
+					transport.close();
+				}
 			} finally {
 				if (proxyServer != null) {
+					LOGGER.trace("stopping proxy bridge");
 					proxyServer.stop();
 				}
 			}
diff --git a/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml b/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml
index 4fd0118b0..4c91cfc54 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml
+++ b/src/main/resources/log4j2.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!--suppress XmlUnboundNsPrefix -->
-<configuration status="OFF">
+<configuration status="INFO">
     <appenders>
         <Console name="console" target="SYSTEM_OUT">
             <PatternLayout pattern="%d{HH:mm:ss} [%t] %-5level %c{1} - %msg%n" />
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
         </Logger>
         <Logger name="org.codemonkey.simplejavamail.internal.socks" level="warn"/>
 
-        <Root level="warn">
+        <Root level="debug">
             <AppenderRef ref="console" />
         </Root>
     </Loggers>