diff --git a/wise-webapp/src/main/java/com/wisemapping/mail/NotificationService.java b/wise-webapp/src/main/java/com/wisemapping/mail/NotificationService.java
index 04ab63c9..b7c86d97 100644
--- a/wise-webapp/src/main/java/com/wisemapping/mail/NotificationService.java
+++ b/wise-webapp/src/main/java/com/wisemapping/mail/NotificationService.java
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ final public class NotificationService {
     }
 
     private void handleException(Exception e) {
+        System.err.println("An expected error has occurred trying to send an email notification. Usually, the main reason for this is that the SMTP server properties has not been configured properly. Edit the WEB-INF/app.properties file and verify the SMTP server configuration properties.");
         e.printStackTrace();
     }
 
@@ -136,12 +137,16 @@ final public class NotificationService {
     }
 
     public void sendRegistrationEmail(@NotNull User user) {
-        final Map<String, Object> model = new HashMap<String, Object>();
-        model.put("user", user);
-        final String activationUrl = "http://wisemapping.com/c/activation?code=" + user.getActivationCode();
-        model.put("emailcheck", activationUrl);
-        mailer.sendEmail(mailer.getServerSenderEmail(), user.getEmail(), "Welcome to Wisemapping!", model,
-                "confirmationMail.vm");
+        try {
+            final Map<String, Object> model = new HashMap<String, Object>();
+            model.put("user", user);
+            final String activationUrl = "http://wisemapping.com/c/activation?code=" + user.getActivationCode();
+            model.put("emailcheck", activationUrl);
+            mailer.sendEmail(mailer.getServerSenderEmail(), user.getEmail(), "Welcome to Wisemapping!", model,
+                    "confirmationMail.vm");
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            handleException(e);
+        }
     }
 
     public void reportMindmapEditorError(@NotNull MindMap mindmap, @NotNull User user, @NotNull String userAgent, @Nullable String jsErrorMsg) {
diff --git a/wise-webapp/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/app.properties b/wise-webapp/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/app.properties
index 010e87a1..71ced63e 100755
--- a/wise-webapp/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/app.properties
+++ b/wise-webapp/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/app.properties
@@ -24,6 +24,13 @@ database.password=
 #------------------------
 # Plain SMTP Server Configuration
 #------------------------
+mail.smtp.port=465
+mail.smtp.host=localhost
+mail.username=root
+mail.password=
+mail.smtp.auth=false
+mail.smtp.starttls.enable=false
+mail.smtp.quitwait=false
 
 #------------------------
 # SSL SMTP Server Configuration
@@ -32,13 +39,13 @@ database.password=
 #------------------------
 # GMAIL SMTP Configuration
 #------------------------
-mail.smtp.port=587
-mail.smtp.host=smtp.gmail.com
-mail.username=<gmail-user-account>
-mail.password=<gmail-password>
-mail.smtp.auth=true
-mail.smtp.starttls.enable=true
-mail.smtp.quitwait=false
+#mail.smtp.port=587
+#mail.smtp.host=smtp.gmail.com
+#mail.username=<gmail-user-account>
+#mail.password=<gmail-password>
+#mail.smtp.auth=true
+#mail.smtp.starttls.enable=true
+#mail.smtp.quitwait=false
 
 #------------------------
 # Emails configuration