diff --git a/src/bitmessageqt/settings.py b/src/bitmessageqt/settings.py
index caaff929..ca55dbed 100644
--- a/src/bitmessageqt/settings.py
+++ b/src/bitmessageqt/settings.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import os
 import sys
 
-from PyQt4 import QtGui
+from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui
 
 import debug
 import defaults
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ class SettingsDialog(QtGui.QDialog):
         self.parent = parent
         self.firstrun = firstrun
         self.config = BMConfigParser()
+        self.net_restart_needed = False
+        self.timer = QtCore.QTimer()
 
         self.lineEditMaxOutboundConnections.setValidator(
             QtGui.QIntValidator(0, 8, self.lineEditMaxOutboundConnections))
@@ -284,16 +286,11 @@ class SettingsDialog(QtGui.QDialog):
 
         if int(self.config.get('bitmessagesettings', 'port')) != int(
                 self.lineEditTCPPort.text()):
-            if not self.config.safeGetBoolean('bitmessagesettings', 'dontconnect'):
-                QtGui.QMessageBox.about(
-                    self, _translate("MainWindow", "Restart"),
-                    _translate(
-                        "MainWindow",
-                        "You must restart Bitmessage for the port number"
-                        " change to take effect.")
-                )
             self.config.set(
                 'bitmessagesettings', 'port', str(self.lineEditTCPPort.text()))
+            if not self.config.safeGetBoolean('bitmessagesettings', 'dontconnect'):
+                self.net_restart_needed = True
+
         if self.checkBoxUPnP.isChecked() != self.config.safeGetBoolean(
                 'bitmessagesettings', 'upnp'):
             self.config.set(
@@ -307,17 +304,10 @@ class SettingsDialog(QtGui.QDialog):
         if (
             self.config.get('bitmessagesettings', 'socksproxytype') ==
             'none' and
-            self.comboBoxProxyType.currentText()[0:5] == 'SOCKS'
+            self.comboBoxProxyType.currentText()[0:5] == 'SOCKS' and
+            shared.statusIconColor != 'red'
         ):
-            if shared.statusIconColor != 'red':
-                QtGui.QMessageBox.about(
-                    self, _translate("MainWindow", "Restart"),
-                    _translate(
-                        "MainWindow",
-                        "Bitmessage will use your proxy from now on but"
-                        " you may want to manually restart Bitmessage now"
-                        " to close existing connections (if any).")
-                )
+                self.net_restart_needed = True
         if (
             self.config.get('bitmessagesettings', 'socksproxytype')[0:5] ==
             'SOCKS' and self.comboBoxProxyType.currentText()[0:5] != 'SOCKS'
@@ -364,6 +354,15 @@ class SettingsDialog(QtGui.QDialog):
         self.config.set('bitmessagesettings', 'maxoutboundconnections', str(
             int(float(self.lineEditMaxOutboundConnections.text()))))
 
+        if self.net_restart_needed:
+            self.net_restart_needed = False
+            self.config.set('bitmessagesettings', 'dontconnect', 'true')
+            self.timer.singleShot(
+                5000, lambda:
+                self.config.remove_option(
+                    'bitmessagesettings', 'dontconnect')
+            )
+
         self.config.set(
             'bitmessagesettings', 'namecoinrpctype', self.getNamecoinType())
         self.config.set('bitmessagesettings', 'namecoinrpchost', str(