diff --git a/esp-link.vcxproj b/esp-link.vcxproj
index 3e727e4..27d9fcc 100644
--- a/esp-link.vcxproj
+++ b/esp-link.vcxproj
@@ -129,8 +129,8 @@
   <PropertyGroup Label="UserMacros" />
   <PropertyGroup>
     <NMakeOutput />
-    <NMakePreprocessorDefinitions>__ets__;_STDINT_H;ICACHE_FLASH;__MINGW32__;__WIN32__</NMakePreprocessorDefinitions>
-    <NMakeIncludeSearchPath>.\rest;.\esp-link;.\mqtt;.\cmd;.\serial;.\user;.\espfs;.\httpd;.\include;..\esp_iot_sdk_v1.3.0\include;..\xtensa-lx106-elf\xtensa-lx106-elf\include;c:\tools\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\include;c:\tools\mingw64\lib\gcc\x86_64-w64-mingw32\4.8.3\include</NMakeIncludeSearchPath>
+    <NMakePreprocessorDefinitions>__ets__;_STDINT_H;ICACHE_FLASH;__MINGW32__;__WIN32__;MQTT</NMakePreprocessorDefinitions>
+    <NMakeIncludeSearchPath>.\rest;.\esp-link;.\mqtt;.\cmd;.\serial;.\user;.\espfs;.\httpd;.\include;..\esp_iot_sdk_v1.4.0\include;..\xtensa-lx106-elf\xtensa-lx106-elf\include;c:\tools\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\include;c:\tools\mingw64\lib\gcc\x86_64-w64-mingw32\4.8.3\include</NMakeIncludeSearchPath>
     <ExecutablePath />
     <ReferencePath />
     <LibraryPath />
diff --git a/esp-link/mqtt_client.c b/esp-link/mqtt_client.c
index 3969530..431e5f0 100644
--- a/esp-link/mqtt_client.c
+++ b/esp-link/mqtt_client.c
@@ -12,11 +12,6 @@
 
 MQTT_Client mqttClient; // main mqtt client used by esp-link
 
-#ifdef BRUNNELS
-char* statusTopicStr;
-static char* onlineMsgStr;
-#endif
-
 static MqttCallback connected_cb;
 static MqttCallback disconnected_cb;
 static MqttCallback published_cb;
@@ -27,9 +22,6 @@ mqttConnectedCb(uint32_t *args) {
   DBG_MQTTCLIENT("MQTT Client: Connected\n");
   //MQTT_Client* client = (MQTT_Client*)args;
   //MQTT_Subscribe(client, "system/time", 0); // handy for testing
-#ifdef BRUNNELS
-  MQTT_Publish(client, "announce/all", onlineMsgStr, 0, 0);
-#endif
   if (connected_cb)
     connected_cb(args);
 }
@@ -93,29 +85,6 @@ mqtt_client_init()
     flashConfig.mqtt_clientid, flashConfig.mqtt_username, flashConfig.mqtt_password,
     flashConfig.mqtt_keepalive);
 
-// removed client_id concat for now until a better solution is devised
-//      statusTopicStr = (char*)os_zalloc(strlen(flashConfig.mqtt_clientid) + strlen(flashConfig.mqtt_status_topic) + 2);
-//      os_strcpy(statusTopicStr, flashConfig.mqtt_clientid);
-//      os_strcat(statusTopicStr, "/");
-
-#ifdef BRUNNELS
-    char* onlineMsg = " is online";
-    onlineMsgStr = (char*)os_zalloc(strlen(flashConfig.mqtt_clientid) + strlen(onlineMsg) + 1);
-    os_strcpy(onlineMsgStr, flashConfig.mqtt_clientid);
-    os_strcat(onlineMsgStr, onlineMsg);
-
-    char* offlineMsg = " is offline";
-    char* offlineMsgStr = (char*)os_zalloc(strlen(flashConfig.mqtt_clientid) + strlen(offlineMsg) + 1);
-    os_strcpy(offlineMsgStr, flashConfig.mqtt_clientid);
-    os_strcat(offlineMsgStr, offlineMsg);
-
-    char* lwt = "/lwt";
-    char *lwtMsgStr = (char*)os_zalloc(strlen(flashConfig.mqtt_clientid) + strlen(lwt) + 1);
-    os_strcpy(lwtMsgStr, flashConfig.mqtt_clientid);
-    os_strcat(lwtMsgStr, lwt);
-    MQTT_InitLWT(&mqttClient, lwtMsgStr, offlineMsg, 0, 0);
-#endif
-
   MQTT_OnConnected(&mqttClient, mqttConnectedCb);
   MQTT_OnDisconnected(&mqttClient, mqttDisconnectedCb);
   MQTT_OnPublished(&mqttClient, mqttPublishedCb);
diff --git a/serial/slip.c b/serial/slip.c
index 4125a08..b9446e3 100644
--- a/serial/slip.c
+++ b/serial/slip.c
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@
 #include "console.h"
 #include "cmd.h"
 
+#ifdef SLIP_DBG
+#define DBG(format, ...) os_printf(format, ## __VA_ARGS__)
+#else
+#define DBG(format, ...) do { } while(0)
+#endif
+
 uint8_t slip_disabled;   // temporarily disable slip to allow flashing of attached MCU
 
 extern void ICACHE_FLASH_ATTR console_process(char *buf, short len);
@@ -48,15 +54,15 @@ slip_process() {
       } else {
         os_printf("SLIP: bad CRC, crc=%x rcv=%x\n", crc, rcv);
 
-#ifdef SLIP_DBG
         for (short i=0; i<slip_len; i++) {
-          if (slip_buf[i] >= ' ' && slip_buf[i] <= '~')
-            os_printf("%c", slip_buf[i]);
-          else
-            os_printf("\\%02X", slip_buf[i]);
+          if (slip_buf[i] >= ' ' && slip_buf[i] <= '~') {
+            DBG("%c", slip_buf[i]);
+          }
+          else {
+            DBG("\\%02X", slip_buf[i]);
+          }
         }
-        os_printf("\n");
-#endif
+        DBG("\n");
       }
     }
   }
@@ -86,9 +92,7 @@ slip_parse_char(char c) {
       if (slip_len > 0) console_process(slip_buf, slip_len);
       slip_reset();
       slip_inpkt = true;
-#ifdef SLIP_DBG
-      os_printf("SLIP: start\n");
-#endif
+      DBG("SLIP: start\n");
       return;
     }
   } else if (slip_escaped) {