diff --git a/.jshintrc b/.jshintrc
index ef86c4c..0a54ccb 100644
--- a/.jshintrc
+++ b/.jshintrc
@@ -14,5 +14,5 @@
     "quotmark": "double",
     "trailing": true,
     "undef": true,
-    "unused": "strict"
+    "unused": true
 }
diff --git a/ws.js b/ws.js
index 8084bbe..5c1c3e3 100755
--- a/ws.js
+++ b/ws.js
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 require("console-dope");
 var connect = require("connect"),
     http = require("http"),
-    util = require("util"),
     fs = require("fs"),
     Thing = require("nature").Thing,
     w = require("wodge"),
@@ -17,14 +16,6 @@ function halt(message){
     process.exit(1);
 }
 
-function handleServerError(err){
-    if (err.code === "EADDRINUSE"){
-        halt("port " + argv.port + " is already is use");
-    } else {
-        halt(err.message);
-    }
-}
-
 /**
 parse command-line args
 */
@@ -37,7 +28,7 @@ var argv = new Thing()
     .on("error", function(err){
         halt(err.message);
     });
-    
+
 /*
 Set default options from "package.json", ".local-web-server.json" or "~/.local-web-server.json", in that order
 */
@@ -114,20 +105,26 @@ if (argv.help){
     /**
     static file server including directory browsing support
     */
-    app.use(connect.static(argv.directory))
-        .use(connect.directory(argv.directory, { icons: true }));
+    app.use(connect.static(path.resolve(argv.directory)))
+        .use(connect.directory(path.resolve(argv.directory), { icons: true }));
 
     /**
     launch server
     */
     var server = http.createServer(app)
-        .on("error", handleServerError)
+        .on("error", function(err){
+            if (err.code === "EADDRINUSE"){
+                halt("port " + argv.port + " is already is use");
+            } else {
+                halt(err.message);
+            }
+        })
         .listen(argv.port);
 
     /*
     write status to stderr so stdout can be piped to disk ($ ws > log.txt)
     */
-    if (argv.directory === process.cwd()){
+    if (path.resolve(argv.directory) === process.cwd()){
         console.error("serving at %underline{%s}", "http://localhost:" + argv.port);
     } else {
         console.error("serving %underline{%s} at %underline{%s}", argv.directory, "http://localhost:" + argv.port);