diff --git a/SparkleLib/SparkleRepo.cs b/SparkleLib/SparkleRepo.cs
index afd19580..8619ccc6 100644
--- a/SparkleLib/SparkleRepo.cs
+++ b/SparkleLib/SparkleRepo.cs
@@ -85,6 +85,8 @@ namespace SparkleLib {
 			CurrentHash     = GetCurrentHash ();
 			Domain          = GetDomain (RemoteOriginUrl);
 
+			if (CurrentHash == null)
+				CreateInitialCommit ();
 
 			HasChanged = false;
 
@@ -128,6 +130,9 @@ namespace SparkleLib {
 			// since SparkleShare was stopped
 			AddCommitAndPush ();
 
+			if (CurrentHash == null)
+				CurrentHash = GetCurrentHash ();
+
 			SparkleHelpers.DebugInfo ("Git", "[" + Name + "] Idling...");
 
 		}
@@ -409,7 +414,7 @@ namespace SparkleLib {
 
 			SparkleHelpers.DebugInfo ("Git", "[" + Name + "] Pushing changes...");
 
-			Process.StartInfo.Arguments = "push";
+			Process.StartInfo.Arguments = "push origin master";
 			Process.Start ();
 			Process.WaitForExit ();
 
@@ -466,6 +471,9 @@ namespace SparkleLib {
 		public string GetDomain (string url)
 		{
 
+			if (RemoteOriginUrl.Equals (""))
+				return "";
+
 			string domain = url.Substring (RemoteOriginUrl.IndexOf ("@") + 1);
 
 			if (domain.IndexOf (":") > -1)
@@ -482,19 +490,25 @@ namespace SparkleLib {
 		public string GetCurrentHash ()
 		{
 
-			string current_hash;
+			Process process = new Process () {
+				EnableRaisingEvents = true
+			};
 
-			Process process = new Process ();
 			process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
-			process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
-			process.StartInfo.FileName = "git";
-			process.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = LocalPath;
-			process.StartInfo.Arguments = "rev-list --max-count=1 HEAD";
-			process.Start ();
+			process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute        = false;
+			process.StartInfo.FileName               = "git";
+			process.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory       = LocalPath;
+			process.StartInfo.Arguments              = "rev-list --max-count=1 HEAD";
 
-			current_hash = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd ().Trim ();
-			
-			return current_hash;
+			process.Start ();
+			process.WaitForExit ();
+
+			string current_hash = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd ().Trim ();
+
+			if (process.ExitCode != 0)
+				return null;
+			else
+				return current_hash;
 
 		}
 
@@ -551,6 +565,18 @@ namespace SparkleLib {
 		}
 
 
+		// Create a first commit in case the user has cloned
+		// an empty repository
+		private void CreateInitialCommit ()
+		{
+
+			TextWriter writer = new StreamWriter (Path.Combine (LocalPath, "SparkleShare.txt"));
+			writer.WriteLine (":)");
+			writer.Close ();
+
+		}
+
+
 		// Gets the url of the remote repo, example: "ssh://git@git.gnome.org/project"
 		public string GetRemoteOriginUrl ()
 		{
diff --git a/SparkleShare/SparkleStatusIcon.cs b/SparkleShare/SparkleStatusIcon.cs
index 26bc4791..32ef40a1 100644
--- a/SparkleShare/SparkleStatusIcon.cs
+++ b/SparkleShare/SparkleStatusIcon.cs
@@ -295,6 +295,9 @@ namespace SparkleShare {
 		public void ShowState ()
 		{
 
+			if (SyncingReposCount < 0)
+				SyncingReposCount = 0;
+
 			if (SyncingReposCount > 0)
 				SetSyncingState ();
 			else