diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/RestartStrategySpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/RestartStrategySpec.scala
index 6021ecf8cc..459e479ebe 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/RestartStrategySpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/RestartStrategySpec.scala
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ import akka.testkit.AkkaSpec
 @org.junit.runner.RunWith(classOf[org.scalatest.junit.JUnitRunner])
 class RestartStrategySpec extends AkkaSpec {
 
+  override def atStartup {
+    app.mainbus.publish(Mute(EventFilter[Exception]("Crashing...")))
+  }
+
   object Ping
   object Crash
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/AkkaApplication.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/AkkaApplication.scala
index 837960229d..a47a375e21 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/AkkaApplication.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/AkkaApplication.scala
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@ package akka
 
 import akka.config._
 import akka.actor._
-import dispatch._
-import event._
+import akka.dispatch._
+import akka.event._
+import akka.util.duration._
 import java.net.InetAddress
 import com.eaio.uuid.UUID
 import akka.dispatch.{ Dispatchers, Future }
@@ -105,8 +106,7 @@ class AkkaApplication(val name: String, val config: Configuration) extends Actor
 
     val DispatcherThroughput = getInt("akka.actor.throughput", 5)
     val DispatcherDefaultShutdown = getLong("akka.actor.dispatcher-shutdown-timeout").
-      map(time ⇒ Duration(time, DefaultTimeUnit)).
-      getOrElse(Duration(1000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS))
+      map(time ⇒ Duration(time, DefaultTimeUnit)).getOrElse(1 second)
     val MailboxCapacity = getInt("akka.actor.default-dispatcher.mailbox-capacity", -1)
     val MailboxPushTimeout = Duration(getInt("akka.actor.default-dispatcher.mailbox-push-timeout-time", 10), DefaultTimeUnit)
     val DispatcherThroughputDeadlineTime = Duration(getInt("akka.actor.throughput-deadline-time", -1), DefaultTimeUnit)
@@ -181,38 +181,46 @@ class AkkaApplication(val name: String, val config: Configuration) extends Actor
   // TODO think about memory consistency effects when doing funky stuff inside constructor
   val provider: ActorRefProvider = reflective.createProvider
 
-  // TODO make this configurable
-  protected[akka] val guardian: ActorRef = {
-    import akka.actor.FaultHandlingStrategy._
-    provider.actorOf(
-      Props(context ⇒ { case _ ⇒ }).withFaultHandler(OneForOneStrategy {
-        case _: ActorKilledException         ⇒ Stop
-        case _: ActorInitializationException ⇒ Stop
-        case _: Exception                    ⇒ Restart
-      }).withDispatcher(dispatcher),
-      provider.theOneWhoWalksTheBubblesOfSpaceTime,
-      "ApplicationSupervisor",
-      true)
+  private class Guardian extends Actor {
+    def receive = {
+      case Terminated(_) ⇒ context.self.stop()
+    }
   }
+  private class SystemGuardian extends Actor {
+    def receive = {
+      case Terminated(_) ⇒
+        mainbus.stopDefaultLoggers()
+        context.self.stop()
+    }
+  }
+  private val guardianFaultHandlingStrategy = {
+    import akka.actor.FaultHandlingStrategy._
+    OneForOneStrategy {
+      case _: ActorKilledException         ⇒ Stop
+      case _: ActorInitializationException ⇒ Stop
+      case _: Exception                    ⇒ Restart
+    }
+  }
+  private val guardianProps = Props(new Guardian).withFaultHandler(guardianFaultHandlingStrategy)
 
-  protected[akka] val systemGuardian: ActorRef = {
-    import akka.actor.FaultHandlingStrategy._
-    provider.actorOf(
-      Props(context ⇒ { case _ ⇒ }).withFaultHandler(OneForOneStrategy {
-        case _: ActorKilledException         ⇒ Stop
-        case _: ActorInitializationException ⇒ Stop
-        case _: Exception                    ⇒ Restart
-      }).withDispatcher(dispatcher),
-      provider.theOneWhoWalksTheBubblesOfSpaceTime,
-      "SystemSupervisor",
-      true)
-  }
+  private val guardianInChief: ActorRef =
+    provider.actorOf(guardianProps, provider.theOneWhoWalksTheBubblesOfSpaceTime, "GuardianInChief", true)
+
+  protected[akka] val guardian: ActorRef =
+    provider.actorOf(guardianProps, guardianInChief, "ApplicationSupervisor", true)
+
+  protected[akka] val systemGuardian: ActorRef =
+    provider.actorOf(guardianProps.withCreator(new SystemGuardian), guardianInChief, "SystemSupervisor", true)
 
   // TODO think about memory consistency effects when doing funky stuff inside constructor
   val deadLetters = new DeadLetterActorRef(this)
 
   val deathWatch = provider.createDeathWatch()
 
+  // chain death watchers so that killing guardian stops the application
+  deathWatch.subscribe(systemGuardian, guardian)
+  deathWatch.subscribe(guardianInChief, systemGuardian)
+
   // this starts the reaper actor and the user-configured logging subscribers, which are also actors
   mainbus.start(this)
   mainbus.startDefaultLoggers(this, AkkaConfig)
@@ -232,7 +240,6 @@ class AkkaApplication(val name: String, val config: Configuration) extends Actor
   // TODO shutdown all that other stuff, whatever that may be
   def stop(): Unit = {
     guardian.stop()
-    systemGuardian.stop()
   }
 
   terminationFuture.onComplete(_ ⇒ dispatcher.shutdown())
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Scheduler.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Scheduler.scala
index 5d64eec5f1..ae9b86695d 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Scheduler.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Scheduler.scala
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ class DefaultScheduler extends Scheduler {
     }
   }
 
-  private[akka] def shutdown() { service.shutdown() }
+  private[akka] def shutdown() { service.shutdownNow() }
 }
 
 private object SchedulerThreadFactory extends ThreadFactory {
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Dispatcher.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Dispatcher.scala
index 3e9411d593..f288150265 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Dispatcher.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Dispatcher.scala
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ class Dispatcher(
   protected[akka] def shutdown {
     val old = executorService.getAndSet(new LazyExecutorServiceWrapper(executorServiceFactory.createExecutorService))
     if (old ne null)
-      old.shutdown()
+      old.shutdownNow()
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/Logging.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/Logging.scala
index 59932879f1..82a4df5d00 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/Logging.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/Logging.scala
@@ -88,6 +88,19 @@ trait LoggingBus extends ActorEventBus {
     }
   }
 
+  def stopDefaultLoggers() {
+    val level = _logLevel // volatile access before reading loggers
+    if (!(loggers contains StandardOutLogger)) {
+      AllLogLevels filter (level >= _) foreach (l ⇒ subscribe(StandardOutLogger, classFor(l)))
+      publish(Info(this, "shutting down: StandardOutLogger started"))
+    }
+    for {
+      logger ← loggers
+      if logger != StandardOutLogger
+    } logger.stop()
+    publish(Info(this, "all default loggers stopped"))
+  }
+
   private def addLogger(app: AkkaApplication, clazz: Class[_ <: Actor], level: LogLevel): ActorRef = {
     val actor = app.systemActorOf(Props(clazz), Props.randomAddress)
     actor ! InitializeLogger(this)
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/Index.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/Index.scala
index f79ea921dd..f91c20228c 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/Index.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/Index.scala
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ class Index[K, V](val mapSize: Int, val valueComparator: Comparator[V]) {
   /**
    * Returns the key set.
    */
-  def keys = scala.collection.JavaConversions.asScalaIterable(container.keySet)
+  def keys = scala.collection.JavaConversions.collectionAsScalaIterable(container.keySet)
 
   /**
    * Disassociates the value of type V from the key of type K
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/AkkaSpec.scala b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/AkkaSpec.scala
index 22f114b109..4264427e0d 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/AkkaSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/test/scala/akka/testkit/AkkaSpec.scala
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import akka.AkkaApplication
 import akka.actor.{ Actor, ActorRef, Props }
 import akka.dispatch.MessageDispatcher
 import akka.event.{ Logging, MainBusLogging }
+import akka.util.duration._
+import akka.dispatch.FutureTimeoutException
 
 abstract class AkkaSpec(_application: AkkaApplication = AkkaApplication())
   extends TestKit(_application) with WordSpec with MustMatchers with BeforeAndAfterAll {
@@ -22,6 +24,9 @@ abstract class AkkaSpec(_application: AkkaApplication = AkkaApplication())
 
   final override def afterAll {
     app.stop()
+    try app.terminationFuture.await(5 seconds) catch {
+      case _: FutureTimeoutException ⇒ app.log.warning("failed to stop within 5 seconds")
+    }
     atTermination()
   }
 
@@ -42,4 +47,20 @@ abstract class AkkaSpec(_application: AkkaApplication = AkkaApplication())
   def spawn(body: ⇒ Unit)(implicit dispatcher: MessageDispatcher) {
     actorOf(Props(ctx ⇒ { case "go" ⇒ try body finally ctx.self.stop() }).withDispatcher(dispatcher)) ! "go"
   }
+}
+
+class AkkaSpecSpec extends WordSpec with MustMatchers {
+  "An AkkaSpec" must {
+    "terminate all actors" in {
+      import AkkaApplication.defaultConfig
+      val app = AkkaApplication("test", defaultConfig ++ Configuration(
+        "akka.actor.debug.lifecycle" -> true, "akka.loglevel" -> "DEBUG"))
+      val spec = new AkkaSpec(app) {
+        val ref = Seq(testActor, app.actorOf(Props.empty, "name"))
+      }
+      spec.ref foreach (_ must not be 'shutdown)
+      app.stop()
+      spec.awaitCond(spec.ref forall (_.isShutdown), 2 seconds)
+    }
+  }
 }
\ No newline at end of file