diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DockerClientConfig.java b/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DockerClientConfig.java
index a03d6e086..31cfc0c58 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DockerClientConfig.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DockerClientConfig.java
@@ -109,14 +109,16 @@ private String checkDockerCertPath(boolean dockerTlsVerify, String dockerCertPat
 
                 if (!certPath.exists()) {
                     throw new DockerClientException(
-                            "Certificate path (DOCKER_CERT_PATH) '" + dockerCertPath + "' doesn't exist.");
+                            "Enabled TLS verification (DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY=1) but certificate path (DOCKER_CERT_PATH) '" + dockerCertPath
+                                    + "' doesn't exist.");
                 }
 
                 if (certPath.isDirectory()) {
                     return dockerCertPath;
                 } else {
                     throw new DockerClientException(
-                            "Certificate path (DOCKER_CERT_PATH) '" + dockerCertPath + "' doesn't point to a directory.");
+                            "Enabled TLS verification (DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY=1) but certificate path (DOCKER_CERT_PATH) '" + dockerCertPath
+                                    + "' doesn't point to a directory.");
                 }
             }
         } else {
@@ -375,7 +377,6 @@ public final DockerClientConfigBuilder withDockerHost(String dockerHost) {
             return this;
         }
 
-
         public final DockerClientConfigBuilder withApiVersion(RemoteApiVersion apiVersion) {
             this.apiVersion = apiVersion.getVersion();
             return this;
@@ -417,8 +418,12 @@ public final DockerClientConfigBuilder withDockerConfig(String dockerConfig) {
         }
 
         public final DockerClientConfigBuilder withDockerTlsVerify(String dockerTlsVerify) {
-            String trimmed = dockerTlsVerify.trim();
-            this.dockerTlsVerify = "true".equalsIgnoreCase(trimmed) || "1".equals(trimmed);
+            if (dockerTlsVerify != null) {
+                String trimmed = dockerTlsVerify.trim();
+                this.dockerTlsVerify = "true".equalsIgnoreCase(trimmed) || "1".equals(trimmed);
+            } else {
+                this.dockerTlsVerify = false;
+            }
             return this;
         }
 
@@ -433,4 +438,3 @@ public DockerClientConfig build() {
         }
     }
 }
-
diff --git a/src/main/resources/META-INF/services/com.github.dockerjava.api.command.DockerCmdExecFactory b/src/main/resources/META-INF/services/com.github.dockerjava.api.command.DockerCmdExecFactory
deleted file mode 100644
index f0686bc9f..000000000
--- a/src/main/resources/META-INF/services/com.github.dockerjava.api.command.DockerCmdExecFactory
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-com.github.dockerjava.jaxrs.DockerCmdExecFactoryImpl
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main/resources/docker-java.properties b/src/main/resources/docker-java.properties
index ea85f6c01..fc9209c97 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/docker-java.properties
+++ b/src/main/resources/docker-java.properties
@@ -1,13 +1,7 @@
-#docker.io.url=https://localhost:2376
-#docker.io.dockerCertPath=${user.home}/.docker
-#docker.io.dockerCfgPath=${user.home}/.dockercfg
-#docker.io.username=${user.name}
-#docker.io.serverAddress=https://index.docker.io/v1/
-#
-DOCKER_HOST=tcp://localhost:2376
-DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY=1
+DOCKER_HOST=unix:///var/run/docker.sock
 DOCKER_CONFIG=${user.home}/.docker
-DOCKER_CERT_PATH=${user.home}/.docker/certs
+#DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY=1
+#DOCKER_CERT_PATH=${user.home}/.docker/certs
 
 api.version=
 registry.url=https://index.docker.io/v1/
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DockerClientConfigTest.java b/src/test/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DockerClientConfigTest.java
index a363e12ec..ee679a0af 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DockerClientConfigTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/github/dockerjava/core/DockerClientConfigTest.java
@@ -4,8 +4,7 @@
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.core.Is.is;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
-import static org.testng.Assert.assertFalse;
-import static org.testng.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertNull;
 
 import java.lang.reflect.Field;
 import java.net.URI;
@@ -54,8 +53,6 @@ public void environmentDockerHost() throws Exception {
         // and it looks to be SSL disabled
         env.remove("DOCKER_CERT_PATH");
 
-
-
         // given default cert path
         Properties systemProperties = new Properties();
         systemProperties.setProperty("user.name", "someUserName");
@@ -82,7 +79,6 @@ public void environment() throws Exception {
         env.put(DockerClientConfig.DOCKER_CERT_PATH, dockerCertPath());
         env.put(DockerClientConfig.DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY, "1");
 
-
         // when you build a config
         DockerClientConfig config = buildConfig(env, new Properties());
 
@@ -106,12 +102,12 @@ public void defaults() throws Exception {
         DockerClientConfig config = buildConfig(Collections.<String, String> emptyMap(), systemProperties);
 
         // then the cert path is as expected
-        assertEquals(config.getDockerHost(), URI.create("tcp://localhost:2376"));
+        assertEquals(config.getDockerHost(), URI.create("unix:///var/run/docker.sock"));
         assertEquals(config.getRegistryUsername(), "someUserName");
         assertEquals(config.getRegistryUrl(), AuthConfig.DEFAULT_SERVER_ADDRESS);
         assertEquals(config.getApiVersion(), RemoteApiVersion.unknown());
         assertEquals(config.getDockerConfig(), homeDir() + "/.docker");
-        assertEquals(config.getDockerCertPath(), homeDir() + "/.docker/certs");
+        assertNull(config.getDockerCertPath());
     }
 
     @Test