diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ae8b9b8..55db76e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ The Gitter Desktop client is written using [NW.js](http://nwjs.io/), but the onl
 
 1. clone this repo: `git clone git@github.com:gitterHQ/desktop.git && cd desktop`
 2. install all dependencies: `npm install`
-3. generate your own [app oAuth credentials](https://developer.gitter.im/apps) where the redirect url is `app://gitter/oauth.html`
+3. generate your own [app oAuth credentials](https://developer.gitter.im/apps) where the redirect url is `chrome-extension://gitter/oauth.html`
 4. start the app with your credentials:
   * linux/osx: `OAUTH_KEY=yourkey OAUTH_SECRET=yoursecret npm start`
   * windows cmd: `set OAUTH_KEY=yourkey && set OAUTH_SECRET=yoursecret && npm start`
diff --git a/linux/gitter.desktop b/linux/gitter.desktop
index 7bd2abd..ed1ae5a 100644
--- a/linux/gitter.desktop
+++ b/linux/gitter.desktop
@@ -6,3 +6,4 @@ Icon=/opt/Gitter/{{arch}}/logo.png
 Terminal=false
 Type=Application
 Categories=Utility;
+StartupWMClass=gitter-desktop
diff --git a/nwapp/components/context-menu.js b/nwapp/components/context-menu.js
index 7f88877..240b050 100644
--- a/nwapp/components/context-menu.js
+++ b/nwapp/components/context-menu.js
@@ -1,24 +1,23 @@
 'use strict';
 
-var gui = window.require('nw.gui');
-var menu = new gui.Menu();
+var menu = new nw.Menu();
 
 function Menu(cutLabel, copyLabel, pasteLabel) {
-    var cut = new gui.MenuItem({
+    var cut = new nw.MenuItem({
       label: cutLabel || "Cut",
       click: function() {
         document.execCommand("cut");
       }
     });
 
-    var copy = new gui.MenuItem({
+    var copy = new nw.MenuItem({
       label: copyLabel || "Copy",
       click: function() {
         document.execCommand("copy");
       }
     });
 
-    var paste = new gui.MenuItem({
+    var paste = new nw.MenuItem({
       label: pasteLabel || "Paste",
       click: function() {
         document.execCommand("paste");
@@ -35,4 +34,3 @@ function Menu(cutLabel, copyLabel, pasteLabel) {
 
 
 module.exports = new Menu();
-
diff --git a/nwapp/components/menu-items.js b/nwapp/components/menu-items.js
index f841a9c..41f978e 100644
--- a/nwapp/components/menu-items.js
+++ b/nwapp/components/menu-items.js
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 'use strict';
 
-var gui = window.require('nw.gui');
 var pkg = require('../package.json');
 var settings = require('../utils/settings');
 var events = require('../utils/custom-events');
diff --git a/nwapp/components/menu.js b/nwapp/components/menu.js
index 7afd660..2ff7a6e 100644
--- a/nwapp/components/menu.js
+++ b/nwapp/components/menu.js
@@ -1,27 +1,26 @@
 'use strict';
 
 var events = require('../utils/custom-events');
-var gui = window.require('nw.gui');
 var CLIENT = require('../utils/client-type');
 
 // recursively assembles menus and sub-menus
 function assembleMenu(items, parent) {
   var fold;
 
-  parent = parent ? parent : new gui.Menu();
+  parent = parent ? parent : new nw.Menu();
 
   items.forEach(function (item) {
     // means that we have a submenu
     if (item.content && item.content.length > 0) {
-      var submenu = new gui.Menu();
+      var submenu = new nw.Menu();
       fold = assembleMenu(item.content, submenu);
     } else {
-      fold = new gui.MenuItem(item);
+      fold = new nw.MenuItem(item);
     }
 
     if (fold.type === 'contextmenu') {
       item.submenu = fold;
-      fold = new gui.MenuItem(item);
+      fold = new nw.MenuItem(item);
     }
 
     if (item.index && CLIENT === 'osx') {
@@ -36,7 +35,7 @@ function assembleMenu(items, parent) {
 
 function CustomMenu(spec) {
 
-  this.menu = new gui.Menu({ type: 'menubar' });
+  this.menu = new nw.Menu({ type: 'menubar' });
   this.items = spec.items || [];
   this.filter = spec.filter;
   this.label = spec.label;
@@ -72,9 +71,9 @@ CustomMenu.prototype.build = function () {
       assembleMenu(filteredItems, this.menu.items[0].submenu);
       break;
     default:
-      var sub = new gui.Menu();
+      var sub = new nw.Menu();
       assembleMenu(filteredItems, sub);
-      this.menu.append(new gui.MenuItem({
+      this.menu.append(new nw.MenuItem({
         label: this.label,
         submenu: sub
       }));
diff --git a/nwapp/components/tray-menu.js b/nwapp/components/tray-menu.js
index 6596d30..5618729 100644
--- a/nwapp/components/tray-menu.js
+++ b/nwapp/components/tray-menu.js
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 'use strict';
 
-var gui = window.require('nw.gui');
 var log = require('loglevel');
 var Gitter = require('gitter-realtime-client');
 var settings = require('../utils/settings');
@@ -8,7 +7,7 @@ var events = require('../utils/custom-events');
 var quitApp = require('../utils/quit-app');
 
 function TrayMenu() {
-  this.menu = new gui.Menu();
+  this.menu = new nw.Menu();
   this.unsetRooms();
 
   events.on('user:signedOut', function () {
@@ -58,9 +57,9 @@ TrayMenu.prototype.clear = function () {
 
 TrayMenu.prototype.addDefaults = function () {
   if (settings.token) {
-    this.menu.append(new gui.MenuItem({ label: 'Sign Out', click: events.emit.bind(events, 'traymenu:signout') }));
+    this.menu.append(new nw.MenuItem({ label: 'Sign Out', click: events.emit.bind(events, 'traymenu:signout') }));
   }
-  this.menu.append(new gui.MenuItem({ label: 'Exit Gitter', click: quitApp }));
+  this.menu.append(new nw.MenuItem({ label: 'Exit Gitter', click: quitApp }));
 };
 
 TrayMenu.prototype.build = function () {
@@ -91,11 +90,11 @@ TrayMenu.prototype.addSection = function (spec) {
 
   this.menu.append(this.toLabel(spec.label));
   spec.collection.slice(0, 5).forEach(appendRoom);
-  this.menu.append(new gui.MenuItem({ type: 'separator' }));
+  this.menu.append(new nw.MenuItem({ type: 'separator' }));
 };
 
 TrayMenu.prototype.toMenuItem = function (room) {
-  return new gui.MenuItem({
+  return new nw.MenuItem({
     label: room.get('name'),
     click: function () {
       events.emit('traymenu:clicked', room.get('url'));
@@ -104,7 +103,7 @@ TrayMenu.prototype.toMenuItem = function (room) {
 };
 
 TrayMenu.prototype.toLabel = function (name) {
-  return new gui.MenuItem({
+  return new nw.MenuItem({
     label: name.toUpperCase(),
     enabled: false
   });
diff --git a/nwapp/components/tray.js b/nwapp/components/tray.js
index 0963eb9..3eb30a3 100644
--- a/nwapp/components/tray.js
+++ b/nwapp/components/tray.js
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 'use strict';
 
-var gui = window.require('nw.gui');
 var settings = require('../utils/settings');
 var events = require('../utils/custom-events');
 
@@ -8,7 +7,7 @@ var CLIENT_TYPE = require('../utils/client-type');
 var icon = require('../icons.json')[CLIENT_TYPE];
 
 function CustomTray() {
-  this.tray = new gui.Tray({
+  this.tray = new nw.Tray({
     icon: icon.disconnected,
     alticon: icon.selected,
     iconsAreTemplates: false
diff --git a/nwapp/index.js b/nwapp/index.js
index d2ab688..f4a4945 100644
--- a/nwapp/index.js
+++ b/nwapp/index.js
@@ -7,13 +7,12 @@ log.setLevel('debug');
 var CLIENT = require('./utils/client-type');
 
 var manifest = require('./package.json');
-var gui = require('nw.gui');
 var pkg = require('./package.json');
 var Gitter = require('gitter-realtime-client');
 var os = require('os');
 var path = require('path');
 
-var argv = require('yargs')(gui.App.argv).argv;
+var argv = require('yargs')(nw.App.argv).argv;
 var Promise = require('bluebird');
 var semver = require('semver');
 var autoUpdate = require('./utils/auto-update');
@@ -176,7 +175,7 @@ function setupTray(win) {
 // initialises and adds listeners to the top level components of the UI
 function initGUI() {
   log.trace('initGUI()');
-  win = gui.Window.get();
+  win = nw.Window.get();
 
   // Set up tray(OSX)/menu bar(Windows)
   if(settings.showInMacMenuBar) {
@@ -192,7 +191,7 @@ function initGUI() {
     }
   });
 
-  gui.App.on('reopen', reopen); // When someone clicks on the dock icon, show window again.
+  nw.App.on('reopen', reopen); // When someone clicks on the dock icon, show window again.
 
   win.on('close', function (evt) {
     log.trace('win:close');
@@ -286,10 +285,10 @@ function initApp() {
 function showAuth() {
   if (loginView) return;
 
-  // whitelists app:// protocol used for the oAuth callback
-  gui.App.addOriginAccessWhitelistEntry('https://gitter.im/', 'app', 'gitter', true);
+  // whitelists chrome-extension:// protocol used for the oAuth callback
+  nw.App.addOriginAccessWhitelistEntry('https://gitter.im/', 'app', 'gitter', true);
 
-  loginView = new LoginView(gui.Window);
+  loginView = new LoginView(nw.Window);
 
   loginView.on('accessTokenReceived', function(accessToken) {
     log.trace('authWindow:loaded');
@@ -330,11 +329,10 @@ function signout() {
 function showLoggedInWindow(exec) {
   log.trace('showLoggedInWindow()');
 
-  mainWindow = gui.Window.get(
-    window.open('loggedin.html', {
-      focus: true
-    })
-  );
+  var win = nw.Window.get();
+  win.get('loggedin.html', {
+    focus: true
+  });
 
   mainWindow.setMinimumSize(400, 200);
 
@@ -402,7 +400,7 @@ function showLoggedInWindow(exec) {
   });
 
   mainWindow.on('new-win-policy', function (frame, url, policy) {
-    gui.Shell.openExternal(url);
+    nw.Shell.openExternal(url);
     policy.ignore();
   });
 }
diff --git a/nwapp/lib/login-view.js b/nwapp/lib/login-view.js
index 322182c..c59167f 100644
--- a/nwapp/lib/login-view.js
+++ b/nwapp/lib/login-view.js
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ var clientSecret = process.env.OAUTH_SECRET || oauthJson[os].secret || '';
 var baseSite = 'https://gitter.im/';
 var authorizePath = 'login/oauth/authorize';
 var accessTokenPath = 'login/oauth/token';
-var redirectUri = 'app://gitter/oauth.html';
+var redirectUri = 'chrome-extension://gitter/oauth.html';
 
 
 var LoginView = function(rootWindow) {
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ var LoginView = function(rootWindow) {
     width: 1024,
     height: 640
   });
-  var mb = new gui.Menu({
+  var mb = new nw.Menu({
     type: 'menubar'
   });
   if(os === 'osx') {
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ var LoginView = function(rootWindow) {
       hideEdit: false
     });
   }
-  gui.Window.get().menu = mb;
+  nw.Window.get().menu = mb;
 
   this.oauthWindow.on('document-end', function() {
     // gitter login page finished loading visible bits
diff --git a/nwapp/loggedin.js b/nwapp/loggedin.js
index 8349d87..e4ea4d6 100644
--- a/nwapp/loggedin.js
+++ b/nwapp/loggedin.js
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-var gui = require('nw.gui');
-var win = gui.Window.get();
+var win = nw.Window.get();
 var frame = win.window.document.getElementById('mainframe');
 var settings = require('./utils/settings');
 var version = require('./package.json').version;
diff --git a/nwapp/oauth.html b/nwapp/oauth.html
index 181e3fa..81e6638 100644
--- a/nwapp/oauth.html
+++ b/nwapp/oauth.html
@@ -2,8 +2,7 @@
   <head>
     <title>Gitter Login</title>
     <script type="text/javascript">
-      var gui = window.require('nw.gui');
-      var oauthWindow = gui.Window.get();
+      var oauthWindow = nw.Window.get();
       var code = window.location.search.match(/code=(\w+)$/);
       var error = window.location.search.match(/error=(\w+)$/);
 
diff --git a/nwapp/package.json b/nwapp/package.json
index 4d0101c..fb93c24 100644
--- a/nwapp/package.json
+++ b/nwapp/package.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "name": "Gitter",
   "description": "Where developers come to talk.",
   "version": "3.1.0",
-  "main": "app://gitter/index.html",
+  "main": "chrome-extension://gitter/index.html",
   "engineStrict": true,
   "engines": {
     "npm": "^3.0.0"
diff --git a/nwapp/utils/auto-update.js b/nwapp/utils/auto-update.js
index a372c1f..90306eb 100644
--- a/nwapp/utils/auto-update.js
+++ b/nwapp/utils/auto-update.js
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
 'use strict';
 
-var gui = window.require('nw.gui');
 var manifest = require('../package.json');
 var log = require('loglevel');
-var argv = require('yargs')(gui.App.argv).argv;
+var argv = require('yargs')(nw.App.argv).argv;
 var os = require('./client-type');
 
 var Promise = require('bluebird');
diff --git a/nwapp/utils/notifier.js b/nwapp/utils/notifier.js
index 813f09f..0e6a2e1 100644
--- a/nwapp/utils/notifier.js
+++ b/nwapp/utils/notifier.js
@@ -16,8 +16,7 @@ var objectAssign = require('object-assign');
 var settings = require('./settings');
 var events = require('./custom-events');
 
-var gui = window.require('nw.gui');
-var win = gui.Window.get();
+var win = nw.Window.get();
 
 var CLIENT = require('./client-type');
 var SOUNDS_ITEMS = require('../components/sound-items');
diff --git a/nwapp/utils/quit-app.js b/nwapp/utils/quit-app.js
index 8944b7c..3bcb05e 100644
--- a/nwapp/utils/quit-app.js
+++ b/nwapp/utils/quit-app.js
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 var log = require('loglevel');
-var gui = window.require('nw.gui');
 var events = require('./custom-events');
 
 // We wrap their quit method as it doesn't emit a `quit` or `close` event that
@@ -8,5 +7,5 @@ module.exports = function() {
 	log.info('Quitting app, app:quit');
 	events.emit('app:quit');
 
-	gui.App.quit();
+	nw.App.quit();
 };
diff --git a/nwapp/utils/settings.js b/nwapp/utils/settings.js
index ec96263..55c973d 100644
--- a/nwapp/utils/settings.js
+++ b/nwapp/utils/settings.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 'use strict';
 
 var Store = require('jfs');
-var gui = window.require('nw.gui');
 var events = require('./custom-events');
 var log = require('loglevel');
 var SOUNDS = require('./sounds');
@@ -44,7 +43,7 @@ var DEFAULT_SETTINGS = {
   }
 };
 
-var db = new Store(gui.App.dataPath + '/gitter_preferences.json', { pretty: true }); // FIXME: pretty Boolean - should be environment dependent
+var db = new Store(nw.App.dataPath + '/gitter_preferences.json', { pretty: true }); // FIXME: pretty Boolean - should be environment dependent
 
 // initial load is done synchronously
 var settings = db.getSync('settings');
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b6c6df8..645af5b 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
   "devDependencies": {
     "bluebird": "^3.2.2",
     "npm": "^3.7.3",
-    "nw": "^0.12.3",
+    "nw": "^0.18.5",
     "rimraf": "^2.2.8",
     "s3": "^4.3.1",
     "stream-exhaust": "^1.0.1",
diff --git a/windows/README.md b/windows/README.md
index ed1d879..5a405ae 100755
--- a/windows/README.md
+++ b/windows/README.md
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ Usage: `signtool.exe sign /f troupe-cert.pfx binary.exe`
 
 ### kSign
 
-Has a GUI. Very easy to use. Just use the cert provided: `troupe-cert.pfx`
+Has a nw. Very easy to use. Just use the cert provided: `troupe-cert.pfx`
 
 ## Inno Setup