diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 2d1606f3..7ef8c3eb 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -72,6 +72,12 @@
             <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
             <artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
             <version>1.6.0</version>
+            <exclusions>
+                <exclusion>
+                    <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+                    <artifactId>slf4j-jdk14</artifactId>
+                </exclusion>
+            </exclusions>
         </dependency>
 
     </dependencies>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/password4j/BCryptFunction.java b/src/main/java/com/password4j/BCryptFunction.java
index 63d2761e..94f1c2be 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/password4j/BCryptFunction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/password4j/BCryptFunction.java
@@ -539,20 +539,10 @@ private String hashPw(byte[] passwordb, String salt)
         int off;
         StringBuilder rs = new StringBuilder();
 
-        if (salt == null)
-        {
-            throw new BadParametersException("salt cannot be null");
-        }
+        internalChecks(salt);
 
         int saltLength = salt.length();
 
-        if (saltLength < 28)
-        {
-            throw new BadParametersException("Invalid salt");
-        }
-
-        if (salt.charAt(0) != '$' || salt.charAt(1) != '2')
-            throw new BadParametersException("Invalid salt version");
         if (salt.charAt(2) == '$')
             off = 3;
         else
@@ -594,6 +584,22 @@ private String hashPw(byte[] passwordb, String salt)
         return rs.toString();
     }
 
+    private static void internalChecks(String salt)
+    {
+        if (salt == null)
+        {
+            throw new BadParametersException("salt cannot be null");
+        }
+        else if (salt.length() < 28)
+        {
+            throw new BadParametersException("Invalid salt");
+        }
+        else if (salt.charAt(0) != '$' || salt.charAt(1) != '2')
+        {
+            throw new BadParametersException("Invalid salt version");
+        }
+    }
+
     private static String generateSalt(String prefix, int logRounds)
     {
         StringBuilder rs = new StringBuilder();
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/password4j/SystemChecker.java b/src/main/java/com/password4j/SystemChecker.java
index d8932288..54c0275b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/password4j/SystemChecker.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/password4j/SystemChecker.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Scanner;
 
 public class SystemChecker
 {
@@ -34,8 +33,6 @@ public class SystemChecker
 
     private static final int WARMUP_ROUNDS = 20;
 
-    private static final Scanner SCANNER = new Scanner(System.in);
-
     private SystemChecker()
     {
         //
diff --git a/src/test/com/password4j/BCryptFunctionTest.java b/src/test/com/password4j/BCryptFunctionTest.java
index 220eccbc..d874b4ef 100644
--- a/src/test/com/password4j/BCryptFunctionTest.java
+++ b/src/test/com/password4j/BCryptFunctionTest.java
@@ -347,9 +347,9 @@ private static String encodeBase64(byte[] d, int len)
     @Test
     public void testBase64EncodeSimpleByteArrays()
     {
-        Assert.assertEquals(encodeBase64(new byte[]{0}, 1), "..");
-        Assert.assertEquals(encodeBase64(new byte[]{0, 0}, 2), "...");
-        Assert.assertEquals(encodeBase64(new byte[]{0, 0, 0}, 3), "....");
+        Assert.assertEquals("..", encodeBase64(new byte[]{0}, 1));
+        Assert.assertEquals("...", encodeBase64(new byte[]{0, 0}, 2));
+        Assert.assertEquals("....", encodeBase64(new byte[]{0, 0, 0}, 3));
     }
 
     @Test