diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 520aeee..0fe12c3 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -15,4 +15,5 @@ log/*
 *.swp
 *.bak
 ~$*
-logs/*
\ No newline at end of file
+logs/*
+*.user
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Nagios.NSCA.Client/NSCAClientSender.cs b/Nagios.NSCA.Client/NSCAClientSender.cs
index 04317d0..280c6fe 100644
--- a/Nagios.NSCA.Client/NSCAClientSender.cs
+++ b/Nagios.NSCA.Client/NSCAClientSender.cs
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ public NSCAClientSender(NSCASettings settings)
         public bool SendPassiveCheck(Level level, string hostName, string serviceName, string message)
         {
             if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(hostName)) throw new ArgumentNullException("hostName");
-            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(serviceName)) throw new ArgumentNullException("serviceName");
+            if (serviceName == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("serviceName"); //update as per ChrisGeorg issue opened January 05, 2012, https://github.com/robertmircea/nagios-nsca-client/issues/1
             if (message == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("message");
 
             try