diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e075d8212..785a0835e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ Here is the **[FAQ](https://github.com/Pita/etherpad-lite/wiki/FAQ)**
 **As root:**
 
 <ol>
-  <li>Install the dependencies. We need the gzip, git, curl, libssl develop libraries and python <br><code>apt-get install gzip git-core curl python libssl-dev</code></li><br>
+  <li>Install the dependencies. We need the gzip, git, curl, libssl develop libraries and python <br><code>apt-get install gzip git-core curl python libssl-dev build-essential</code></li><br>
   <li>Install node.js 
     <ol type="a">
       <li>Download the latest <b>0.4.x</b> node.js release from <a href="http://nodejs.org/#download">http://nodejs.org/#download</a></li>
diff --git a/node/db/PadManager.js b/node/db/PadManager.js
index 8af299ccc..4e16c7c45 100644
--- a/node/db/PadManager.js
+++ b/node/db/PadManager.js
@@ -21,10 +21,20 @@
 require("../db/Pad");
 var db = require("./DB").db;
 
-/**
- * A Array with all known Pads
+/** 
+ * An Object containing all known Pads. Provides "get" and "set" functions,
+ * which should be used instead of indexing with brackets. These prepend a
+ * colon to the key, to avoid conflicting with built-in Object methods or with
+ * these functions themselves.
+ *
+ * If this is needed in other places, it would be wise to make this a prototype
+ * that's defined somewhere more sensible.
  */
-globalPads = [];
+globalPads = {
+    get: function (name) { return this[':'+name]; },
+    set: function (name, value) { this[':'+name] = value; },
+    remove: function (name) { delete this[':'+name]; }
+};
 
 /**
  * Returns a Pad Object with the callback
@@ -65,7 +75,7 @@ exports.getPad = function(id, text, callback)
     }
   }
   
-  var pad = globalPads[id];
+  var pad = globalPads.get(id);
   
   //return pad if its already loaded
   if(pad != null)
@@ -86,7 +96,7 @@ exports.getPad = function(id, text, callback)
       }
       else
       {
-        globalPads[id] = pad;
+        globalPads.set(id, pad);
         callback(null, pad);
       }
     });
@@ -110,6 +120,6 @@ exports.isValidPadId = function(padId)
 //removes a pad from the array
 exports.unloadPad = function(padId)
 {
-  if(globalPads[padId])
-    delete globalPads[padId];
+  if(globalPads.get(padId))
+    globalPads.remove(padId);
 }
diff --git a/node/server.js b/node/server.js
index 944e73703..2bebe6a24 100644
--- a/node/server.js
+++ b/node/server.js
@@ -99,7 +99,8 @@ async.waterfall([
     app.get('/static/*', function(req, res)
     { 
       res.header("Server", serverName);
-      var filePath = path.normalize(__dirname + "/.." + req.url.split("?")[0]);
+      var filePath = path.normalize(__dirname + "/.." +
+                                    req.url.replace(/\.\./g, '').split("?")[0]);
       res.sendfile(filePath, { maxAge: exports.maxAge });
     });
     
diff --git a/static/js/pad2.js b/static/js/pad2.js
index b79ff8b97..9df57ae8f 100644
--- a/static/js/pad2.js
+++ b/static/js/pad2.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 var socket;
 var LineNumbersDisabled = false;
+var noColors = false;
 var useMonospaceFontGlobal = false;
 var globalUserName = false;
 
@@ -80,9 +81,18 @@ function getParams()
 {
   var showControls = getUrlVars()["showControls"];
   var showChat = getUrlVars()["showChat"];
-  var userName = getUrlVars()["userName"];
+  var userName = unescape(getUrlVars()["userName"]);
   var showLineNumbers = getUrlVars()["showLineNumbers"];
   var useMonospaceFont = getUrlVars()["useMonospaceFont"];
+  var IsnoColors = getUrlVars()["noColors"];
+
+  if(IsnoColors)
+  {
+    if(IsnoColors == "true")
+    {
+      noColors = true;
+    }
+  }
   if(showControls)
   {
     if(showControls == "false")
@@ -236,6 +246,13 @@ function handshake()
       {
         pad.changeViewOption('showLineNumbers', false);
       }
+
+      // If the noColors value is set to true then we need to hide the backround colors on the ace spans
+      if (noColors == true)
+      {
+        pad.changeViewOption('noColors', true);
+      }
+
       // If the Monospacefont value is set to true then change it to monospace.
       if (useMonospaceFontGlobal == true)
       {
@@ -245,6 +262,7 @@ function handshake()
       if (globalUserName !== false)
       {
         pad.notifyChangeName(globalUserName); // Notifies the server
+	pad.myUserInfo.name = globalUserName;
         $('#myusernameedit').attr({"value":globalUserName}); // Updates the current users UI
       }
     }
diff --git a/static/js/pad_editor.js b/static/js/pad_editor.js
index 93ef36295..e98252cff 100644
--- a/static/js/pad_editor.js
+++ b/static/js/pad_editor.js
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ var padeditor = (function()
       {
         pad.changeViewOption('useMonospaceFont', $("#viewfontmenu").val() == 'monospace');
       });
+
+      noColors = !noColors; // Inversed so we can pass it to showauthorcolors
     },
     setViewOptions: function(newOptions)
     {
@@ -84,6 +86,9 @@ var padeditor = (function()
       v = getOption('useMonospaceFont', false);
       self.ace.setProperty("textface", (v ? "monospace" : "Arial, sans-serif"));
       $("#viewfontmenu").val(v ? "monospace" : "normal");
+
+      self.ace.setProperty("showsauthorcolors", noColors);
+
     },
     initViewZoom: function()
     {