diff --git a/app/MyApp.cpp b/app/MyApp.cpp
index f7079bf..604a4e7 100644
--- a/app/MyApp.cpp
+++ b/app/MyApp.cpp
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 MyApp gMyApp;
 
 /* used for debug logging */
-DebugLog* gDebugLog;
+DebugLog* gDebugLog = NULL;
 
 
 /*
@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@ DebugLog* gDebugLog;
  */
 MyApp::MyApp() : CWinAppEx()
 {
+#ifdef _DEBUG
+    // TODO: make this a setting, rather than a debug-build-only feature
     gDebugLog = new DebugLog(L"C:\\src\\cplog.txt");
+#endif
 
     time_t now = time(NULL);
 
@@ -35,12 +38,14 @@ MyApp::MyApp() : CWinAppEx()
         kAppMajorVersion, kAppMinorVersion, kAppBugVersion,
         kAppDevString, ctime(&now));
 
+#ifdef _DEBUG
     int tmpDbgFlag;
     // enable memory leak detection
     tmpDbgFlag = _CrtSetDbgFlag(_CRTDBG_REPORT_FLAG);
     tmpDbgFlag |= _CRTDBG_LEAK_CHECK_DF;
     _CrtSetDbgFlag(tmpDbgFlag);
     LOGI("Leak detection enabled");
+#endif
 
     EnableHtmlHelp();
 }
diff --git a/util/MyDebug.h b/util/MyDebug.h
index 20e3af3..79cf983 100644
--- a/util/MyDebug.h
+++ b/util/MyDebug.h
@@ -58,7 +58,11 @@ extern DebugLog* gDebugLog;     // declare and allocate in app
 
 /* send the message to the log file (if open) and the CRT debug mechanism */
 #define LOG_BASE(severity, file, line, format, ...) \
-    { gDebugLog->Log((severity), (file), (line), (format), __VA_ARGS__); }
+    { \
+        if (gDebugLog != NULL) { \
+            gDebugLog->Log((severity), (file), (line), (format), __VA_ARGS__); \
+        } \
+    }
 
 /*
  * Log macros, with priority specifier.  The output will be written to the