diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/Base.java b/app/src/processing/app/Base.java
index 1fb72fc46..a74bd499d 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/Base.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/Base.java
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import cc.arduino.view.Event;
 import com.google.common.base.Predicate;
 import com.google.common.base.Predicates;
 import com.google.common.collect.Collections2;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import processing.app.debug.TargetBoard;
 import processing.app.debug.TargetPackage;
@@ -2517,9 +2518,7 @@ public class Base {
       }
       return buffer;
     } finally {
-      if (input != null) {
-        input.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(input);
     }
   }
 
@@ -2567,12 +2566,8 @@ public class Base {
       }
       to.flush();
     } finally {
-      if (from != null) {
-        from.close(); // ??
-      }
-      if (to != null) {
-        to.close(); // ??
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(from);
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(to);
     }
 
     targetFile.setLastModified(sourceFile.lastModified());
diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/Editor.java b/app/src/processing/app/Editor.java
index 77f3eab22..954c539ba 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/Editor.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/Editor.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import cc.arduino.view.StubMenuListener;
 import com.google.common.base.Predicate;
 import com.jcraft.jsch.JSchException;
 import jssc.SerialPortException;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import processing.app.debug.*;
 import processing.app.forms.PasswordAuthorizationDialog;
 import processing.app.helpers.OSUtils;
@@ -965,11 +966,7 @@ public class Editor extends JFrame implements RunnerListener {
       //System.err.println("Ignoring " + filename + " (" + e.getMessage() + ")");
       e.printStackTrace();
     } finally {
-      if (zipFile != null)
-        try {
-          zipFile.close();
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-        }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(zipFile);
     }
     return null;
   }
diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/EditorConsoleStream.java b/app/src/processing/app/EditorConsoleStream.java
index 6ad0a336a..6b8925bc3 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/EditorConsoleStream.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/EditorConsoleStream.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package processing.app;
 
 import cc.arduino.files.DeleteFilesOnShutdown;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 
 import static processing.app.I18n._;
 
@@ -82,17 +83,13 @@ class EditorConsoleStream extends OutputStream {
     System.setErr(systemErr);
 
     // close the PrintStream
-    consoleOut.close();
-    consoleErr.close();
+    IOUtils.closeQuietly(consoleOut);
+    IOUtils.closeQuietly(consoleErr);
 
     // also have to close the original FileOutputStream
     // otherwise it won't be shut down completely
-    try {
-      stdoutFile.close();
-      stderrFile.close();
-    } catch (IOException e) {
-      e.printStackTrace();
-    }
+    IOUtils.closeQuietly(stdoutFile);
+    IOUtils.closeQuietly(stderrFile);
 
     outFile.delete();
     errFile.delete();
@@ -149,4 +146,4 @@ class EditorConsoleStream extends OutputStream {
     currentConsole = console;
   }
 
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/UpdateCheck.java b/app/src/processing/app/UpdateCheck.java
index b3b48dfef..b13e7040f 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/UpdateCheck.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/UpdateCheck.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 
 package processing.app;
 
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import processing.app.legacy.PApplet;
 
 import javax.swing.*;
@@ -133,9 +134,7 @@ public class UpdateCheck implements Runnable {
       reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(url.openStream()));
       return Integer.parseInt(reader.readLine());
     } finally {
-      if (reader != null) {
-        reader.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(reader);
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/syntax/PdeKeywords.java b/app/src/processing/app/syntax/PdeKeywords.java
index 3b5a575ce..8740b0675 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/syntax/PdeKeywords.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/syntax/PdeKeywords.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 package processing.app.syntax;
 
 import cc.arduino.contributions.libraries.ContributedLibrary;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import org.fife.ui.rsyntaxtextarea.TokenMap;
 import org.fife.ui.rsyntaxtextarea.TokenTypes;
 import processing.app.Base;
@@ -126,9 +127,7 @@ public class PdeKeywords {
 
       fillMissingTokenType();
     } finally {
-      if (reader != null) {
-        reader.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(reader);
     }
 
   }
diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/syntax/SketchTextArea.java b/app/src/processing/app/syntax/SketchTextArea.java
index 580fe99f7..f31a45ab3 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/syntax/SketchTextArea.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/syntax/SketchTextArea.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 
 package processing.app.syntax;
 
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import org.fife.ui.rsyntaxtextarea.*;
 import org.fife.ui.rsyntaxtextarea.Theme;
 import org.fife.ui.rsyntaxtextarea.Token;
@@ -102,9 +103,7 @@ public class SketchTextArea extends RSyntaxTextArea {
       Theme theme = Theme.load(defaultXmlInputStream);
       theme.apply(this);
     } finally {
-      if (defaultXmlInputStream != null) {
-        defaultXmlInputStream.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(defaultXmlInputStream);
     }
 
     setForeground(processing.app.Theme.getColor("editor.fgcolor"));
diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/tools/Archiver.java b/app/src/processing/app/tools/Archiver.java
index 81a60e41b..664d4dff6 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/tools/Archiver.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/tools/Archiver.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 
 package processing.app.tools;
 
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import processing.app.Base;
 import processing.app.Editor;
 import processing.app.Sketch;
@@ -124,22 +125,21 @@ public class Archiver implements Tool {
     if (filename != null) {
       newbie = new File(directory, filename);
 
+      ZipOutputStream zos = null;
       try {
         //System.out.println(newbie);
-        FileOutputStream zipOutputFile = new FileOutputStream(newbie);
-        ZipOutputStream zos = new ZipOutputStream(zipOutputFile);
+        zos = new ZipOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(newbie));
 
         // recursively fill the zip file
         buildZip(location, name, zos);
 
         // close up the jar file
         zos.flush();
-        zos.close();
-
         editor.statusNotice("Created archive " + newbie.getName() + ".");
-
       } catch (IOException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
+      } finally {
+        IOUtils.closeQuietly(zos);
       }
     } else {
       editor.statusNotice(_("Archive sketch canceled."));
diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/tools/FixEncoding.java b/app/src/processing/app/tools/FixEncoding.java
index 5bfb52462..926fed6e9 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/tools/FixEncoding.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/tools/FixEncoding.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 
 import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
 
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import processing.app.*;
 import static processing.app.I18n._;
 
@@ -83,16 +84,19 @@ public class FixEncoding implements Tool {
 
   protected String loadWithLocalEncoding(File file) throws IOException {
     // FileReader uses the default encoding, which is what we want.
-    FileReader fr = new FileReader(file);
-    BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(fr);
+    BufferedReader reader = null;
+    try {
+      reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
 
-    StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
-    String line = null;
-    while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
-      buffer.append(line);
-      buffer.append('\n');
+      StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
+      String line;
+      while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
+        buffer.append(line);
+        buffer.append('\n');
+      }
+      return buffer.toString();
+    } finally {
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(reader);
     }
-    reader.close();
-    return buffer.toString();
   }
 }
diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/tools/ZipDeflater.java b/app/src/processing/app/tools/ZipDeflater.java
index 55f0c0c8b..1425d8802 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/tools/ZipDeflater.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/tools/ZipDeflater.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import java.util.zip.ZipEntry;
 import java.util.zip.ZipException;
 import java.util.zip.ZipFile;
 
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import processing.app.helpers.FileUtils;
 
 public class ZipDeflater {
@@ -54,12 +55,8 @@ public class ZipDeflater {
             fos.write(buffer, 0, len);
           }
         } finally {
-          if (fos != null) {
-            fos.close();
-          }
-          if (zipInputStream != null) {
-            zipInputStream.close();
-          }
+          IOUtils.closeQuietly(fos);
+          IOUtils.closeQuietly(zipInputStream);
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/app/test/processing/app/I18NTest.java b/app/test/processing/app/I18NTest.java
index 1df455f91..219f6f7ab 100644
--- a/app/test/processing/app/I18NTest.java
+++ b/app/test/processing/app/I18NTest.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 
 package processing.app;
 
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import org.junit.Ignore;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
@@ -63,9 +64,7 @@ public class I18NTest {
       is = new FileInputStream(file);
       properties.load(is);
     } finally {
-      if (is != null) {
-        is.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(is);
     }
     return properties;
   }
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/contributions/GPGDetachedSignatureVerifier.java b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/contributions/GPGDetachedSignatureVerifier.java
index 2b23c3387..a3ed88148 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/contributions/GPGDetachedSignatureVerifier.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/contributions/GPGDetachedSignatureVerifier.java
@@ -77,12 +77,8 @@ public class GPGDetachedSignatureVerifier {
 
       return pgpSignature.verify();
     } finally {
-      if (signatureInputStream != null) {
-        signatureInputStream.close();
-      }
-      if (signedFileInputStream != null) {
-        signedFileInputStream.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(signatureInputStream);
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(signedFileInputStream);
     }
   }
 
@@ -92,9 +88,7 @@ public class GPGDetachedSignatureVerifier {
       keyIn = new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream(file));
       return readPublicKey(keyIn, keyId);
     } finally {
-      if (keyIn != null) {
-        keyIn.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(keyIn);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/contributions/libraries/LibrariesIndexer.java b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/contributions/libraries/LibrariesIndexer.java
index ba2f6f64a..b66d41c5e 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/contributions/libraries/LibrariesIndexer.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/contributions/libraries/LibrariesIndexer.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.module.mrbean.MrBeanModule;
 import com.google.common.base.Function;
 import com.google.common.collect.FluentIterable;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import processing.app.BaseNoGui;
 import processing.app.I18n;
 import processing.app.helpers.FileUtils;
@@ -96,9 +97,7 @@ public class LibrariesIndexer {
         }
       }
     } finally {
-      if (indexIn != null) {
-        indexIn.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(indexIn);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/contributions/packages/ContributionsIndexer.java b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/contributions/packages/ContributionsIndexer.java
index b5180a27a..1e5845214 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/contributions/packages/ContributionsIndexer.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/contributions/packages/ContributionsIndexer.java
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ import com.google.common.collect.Collections2;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableListMultimap;
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
 import com.google.common.collect.Multimaps;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import processing.app.BaseNoGui;
 import processing.app.debug.TargetPackage;
 import processing.app.debug.TargetPlatform;
@@ -172,9 +173,7 @@ public class ContributionsIndexer {
       mapper.configure(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES, false);
       return mapper.readValue(inputStream, ContributionsIndex.class);
     } finally {
-      if (inputStream != null) {
-        inputStream.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(inputStream);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/packages/discoverers/NetworkDiscovery.java b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/packages/discoverers/NetworkDiscovery.java
index b7ede72c2..48d9cdd4b 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/packages/discoverers/NetworkDiscovery.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/packages/discoverers/NetworkDiscovery.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import cc.arduino.packages.BoardPort;
 import cc.arduino.packages.Discovery;
 import cc.arduino.packages.discoverers.network.BoardReachabilityFilter;
 import cc.arduino.packages.discoverers.network.NetworkChecker;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import processing.app.BaseNoGui;
 import processing.app.helpers.PreferencesMap;
 import processing.app.zeroconf.jmdns.ArduinoDNSTaskStarter;
@@ -199,12 +200,6 @@ public class NetworkDiscovery implements Discovery, ServiceListener, cc.arduino.
   @Override
   public void inetAddressRemoved(InetAddress address) {
     JmDNS jmDNS = mappedJmDNSs.remove(address);
-    if (jmDNS != null) {
-      try {
-        jmDNS.close();
-      } catch (IOException e) {
-        e.printStackTrace();
-      }
-    }
+    IOUtils.closeQuietly(jmDNS);
   }
 }
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/packages/ssh/SCP.java b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/packages/ssh/SCP.java
index 458e1b8d5..efeb761e0 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/packages/ssh/SCP.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/packages/ssh/SCP.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ package cc.arduino.packages.ssh;
 import com.jcraft.jsch.Channel;
 import com.jcraft.jsch.ChannelExec;
 import com.jcraft.jsch.Session;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 
 import java.io.*;
 
@@ -61,12 +62,8 @@ public class SCP extends SSH {
   }
 
   public void close() throws IOException {
-    if (out != null) {
-      out.close();
-    }
-    if (in != null) {
-      in.close();
-    }
+    IOUtils.closeQuietly(out);
+    IOUtils.closeQuietly(in);
     if (channel != null) {
       channel.disconnect();
     }
@@ -118,9 +115,7 @@ public class SCP extends SSH {
       buf[0] = 0;
       out.write(buf, 0, 1);
     } finally {
-      if (fis != null) {
-        fis.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(fis);
     }
 
     ensureAcknowledged();
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/packages/ssh/SSH.java b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/packages/ssh/SSH.java
index 0bb6f8a34..1e20adebb 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/packages/ssh/SSH.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/packages/ssh/SSH.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import com.jcraft.jsch.Channel;
 import com.jcraft.jsch.ChannelExec;
 import com.jcraft.jsch.JSchException;
 import com.jcraft.jsch.Session;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
@@ -70,12 +71,8 @@ public class SSH {
       return exitCode == 0;
 
     } finally {
-      if (stdout != null) {
-        stdout.close();
-      }
-      if (stderr != null) {
-        stderr.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(stdout);
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(stderr);
       if (channel != null) {
         channel.disconnect();
       }
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/utils/ArchiveExtractor.java b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/utils/ArchiveExtractor.java
index fe68fa870..2b13dea2b 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/utils/ArchiveExtractor.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/utils/ArchiveExtractor.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import org.apache.commons.compress.archivers.tar.TarArchiveInputStream;
 import org.apache.commons.compress.archivers.zip.ZipArchiveInputStream;
 import org.apache.commons.compress.compressors.bzip2.BZip2CompressorInputStream;
 import org.apache.commons.compress.compressors.gzip.GzipCompressorInputStream;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import processing.app.I18n;
 import processing.app.Platform;
 
@@ -258,9 +259,7 @@ public class ArchiveExtractor {
       }
 
     } finally {
-      if (in != null) {
-        in.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(in);
     }
 
     // Set folders timestamps
@@ -294,9 +293,7 @@ public class ArchiveExtractor {
         size -= length;
       }
     } finally {
-      if (fos != null) {
-        fos.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(fos);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/utils/FileHash.java b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/utils/FileHash.java
index 0ce8afd4c..8c658eb37 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/utils/FileHash.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/utils/FileHash.java
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@
  */
 package cc.arduino.utils;
 
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
+
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -68,9 +70,7 @@ public class FileHash {
       }
       return algorithm + ":" + res;
     } finally {
-      if (in != null) {
-        in.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(in);
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/utils/network/FileDownloader.java b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/utils/network/FileDownloader.java
index 358de9759..83358a32b 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/utils/network/FileDownloader.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/cc/arduino/utils/network/FileDownloader.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 package cc.arduino.utils.network;
 
 import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import processing.app.PreferencesData;
 
 import java.io.File;
@@ -221,22 +222,10 @@ public class FileDownloader extends Observable {
       setError(e);
 
     } finally {
-      if (file != null) {
-        try {
-          file.close();
-        } catch (Exception e) {
-          //ignore
-        }
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(file);
 
       synchronized (this) {
-        if (stream != null) {
-          try {
-            stream.close();
-          } catch (Exception e) {
-            //ignore
-          }
-        }
+        IOUtils.closeQuietly(stream);
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/BaseNoGui.java b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/BaseNoGui.java
index cb039d8e3..7005b7005 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/BaseNoGui.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/BaseNoGui.java
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import cc.arduino.files.DeleteFilesOnShutdown;
 import cc.arduino.packages.DiscoveryManager;
 import cc.arduino.packages.Uploader;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.impl.LogFactoryImpl;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.impl.NoOpLog;
 import processing.app.debug.Compiler;
@@ -315,14 +316,15 @@ public class BaseNoGui {
   static public File getSketchbookLibrariesFolder() {
     File libdir = new File(getSketchbookFolder(), "libraries");
     if (!libdir.exists()) {
+      FileWriter freadme = null;
       try {
         libdir.mkdirs();
-        File readme = new File(libdir, "readme.txt");
-        FileWriter freadme = new FileWriter(readme);
+        freadme = new FileWriter(new File(libdir, "readme.txt"));
         freadme.write(_("For information on installing libraries, see: " +
                         "http://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/Libraries\n"));
-        freadme.close();
       } catch (Exception e) {
+      } finally {
+        IOUtils.closeQuietly(freadme);
       }
     }
     return libdir;
@@ -595,11 +597,8 @@ public class BaseNoGui {
       try {
         out = new FileOutputStream(indexFile);
         out.write("{ \"packages\" : [ ] }".getBytes());
-        out.close();
       } finally {
-        if (out != null) {
-          out.close();
-        }
+        IOUtils.closeQuietly(out);
       }
     }
 
@@ -643,9 +642,7 @@ public class BaseNoGui {
         } catch (IOException e) {
           e.printStackTrace();
         } finally {
-          if (out != null) {
-            out.close();
-          }
+          IOUtils.closeQuietly(out);
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/PreferencesData.java b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/PreferencesData.java
index 7733b08e4..c3a0f9069 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/PreferencesData.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/PreferencesData.java
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.MissingResourceException;
 
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import processing.app.helpers.PreferencesHelper;
 import processing.app.helpers.PreferencesMap;
 import processing.app.legacy.PApplet;
@@ -124,9 +125,7 @@ public class PreferencesData {
 
       writer.flush();
     } finally {
-      if (writer != null) {
-        writer.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(writer);
     }
 
     try {
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/debug/Compiler.java b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/debug/Compiler.java
index d6ecbcfd6..944a09ba2 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/debug/Compiler.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/debug/Compiler.java
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import cc.arduino.packages.BoardPort;
 import cc.arduino.packages.Uploader;
 import cc.arduino.packages.UploaderFactory;
 
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.exec.CommandLine;
 import org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor;
 import org.apache.commons.exec.ExecuteStreamHandler;
@@ -100,12 +101,14 @@ public class Compiler implements MessageConsumer {
     compiler.cleanup(prefsChanged, tempBuildFolder);
 
     if (prefsChanged) {
+      PrintWriter out = null;
       try {
-        PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(buildPrefsFile);
+        out = new PrintWriter(buildPrefsFile);
         out.print(newBuildPrefs);
-        out.close();
       } catch (IOException e) {
         System.err.println(_("Could not write build preferences file"));
+      } finally {
+        IOUtils.closeQuietly(out);
       }
     }
 
@@ -612,6 +615,7 @@ public class Compiler implements MessageConsumer {
 
   private boolean isAlreadyCompiled(File src, File obj, File dep, Map<String, String> prefs) {
     boolean ret=true;
+    BufferedReader reader = null;
     try {
       //System.out.println("\n  isAlreadyCompiled: begin checks: " + obj.getPath());
       if (!obj.exists()) return false;  // object file (.o) does not exist
@@ -620,7 +624,7 @@ public class Compiler implements MessageConsumer {
       long obj_modified = obj.lastModified();
       if (src_modified >= obj_modified) return false;  // source modified since object compiled
       if (src_modified >= dep.lastModified()) return false;  // src modified since dep compiled
-      BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(dep.getPath()));
+      reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(dep.getPath()));
       String line;
       boolean need_obj_parse = true;
       while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
@@ -664,9 +668,10 @@ public class Compiler implements MessageConsumer {
           //System.out.println("  isAlreadyCompiled:  prerequisite ok");
         }
       }
-      reader.close();
     } catch (Exception e) {
       return false;  // any error reading dep file = recompile it
+    } finally {
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(reader);
     }
     if (ret && verbose) {
       System.out.println(I18n.format(_("Using previously compiled file: {0}"), obj.getPath()));
@@ -1267,13 +1272,7 @@ public class Compiler implements MessageConsumer {
       ex.printStackTrace();
       throw new RunnerException(ex.toString());
     } finally {
-      if (outputStream != null) {
-        try {
-          outputStream.close();
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-          //noop
-        }
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(outputStream);
     }
 
     // grab the imports from the code just preproc'd
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/helpers/FileUtils.java b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/helpers/FileUtils.java
index 186141cf5..4f99f48e2 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/helpers/FileUtils.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/helpers/FileUtils.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package processing.app.helpers;
 
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
+
 import java.io.*;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -49,12 +51,8 @@ public class FileUtils {
         fos.write(buf, 0, readBytes);
       }
     } finally {
-      if (fis != null) {
-        fis.close();
-      }
-      if (fos != null) {
-        fos.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(fis);
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(fos);
     }
   }
 
@@ -185,13 +183,7 @@ public class FileUtils {
       }
       return sb.toString();
     } finally {
-      if (reader != null) {
-        try {
-          reader.close();
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-          // noop
-        }
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(reader);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/helpers/NetUtils.java b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/helpers/NetUtils.java
index 17dc52c86..e482e5247 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/helpers/NetUtils.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/helpers/NetUtils.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package processing.app.helpers;
 
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
+
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.InetAddress;
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
@@ -43,13 +45,7 @@ public abstract class NetUtils {
     } catch (IOException e) {
       return false;
     } finally {
-      if (socket != null) {
-        try {
-          socket.close();
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-          // noop
-        }
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(socket);
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/helpers/PreferencesMap.java b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/helpers/PreferencesMap.java
index 185e1bee4..2e3bf83b3 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/helpers/PreferencesMap.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/helpers/PreferencesMap.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
  */
 package processing.app.helpers;
 
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
 import processing.app.legacy.PApplet;
 
 import java.io.*;
@@ -72,9 +73,7 @@ public class PreferencesMap extends LinkedHashMap<String, String> {
       fileInputStream = new FileInputStream(file);
       load(fileInputStream);
     } finally {
-      if (fileInputStream != null) {
-        fileInputStream.close();
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(fileInputStream);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/legacy/PApplet.java b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/legacy/PApplet.java
index e89955263..2a9abc56e 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/legacy/PApplet.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/legacy/PApplet.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package processing.app.legacy;
 
+import org.apache.commons.compress.utils.IOUtils;
+
 import java.io.*;
 import java.text.NumberFormat;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -272,13 +274,7 @@ public class PApplet {
       if (is != null) return loadStrings(is);
       return null;
     } finally {
-      if (is != null) {
-        try {
-          is.close();
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-          // noop
-        }
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(is);
     }
   }
 
@@ -312,14 +308,7 @@ public class PApplet {
       e.printStackTrace();
       //throw new RuntimeException("Error inside loadStrings()");
     } finally {
-      if (reader != null) {
-        try {
-          reader.close();
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-          //ignore
-        }
-      }
-
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(reader);
     }
     return null;
   }
@@ -335,27 +324,25 @@ public class PApplet {
       outputStream = createOutput(file);
       saveStrings(outputStream, strings);
     } finally {
-      if (outputStream != null) {
-        try {
-          outputStream.close();
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-          //noop
-        }
-      }
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(outputStream);
     }
   }
 
 
   static public void saveStrings(OutputStream output, String strings[]) {
-    PrintWriter writer = createWriter(output);
-    if (writer == null) {
-      return;
+    PrintWriter writer = null;
+    try {
+      writer = createWriter(output);
+      if (writer == null) {
+        return;
+      }
+      for (String string : strings) {
+        writer.println(string);
+      }
+      writer.flush();
+    } finally {
+      IOUtils.closeQuietly(writer);
     }
-    for (String string : strings) {
-      writer.println(string);
-    }
-    writer.flush();
-    writer.close();
   }