diff --git a/src/l10n.py b/src/l10n.py
index c04b5cdb..d097f2f9 100644
--- a/src/l10n.py
+++ b/src/l10n.py
@@ -8,24 +8,54 @@ import shared
 #logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 logger = logging.getLogger('file_only')
 
+
+DEFAULT_ENCODING = 'ISO8859-1'
+DEFAULT_LANGUAGE = 'en_US'
+DEFAULT_TIME_FORMAT = '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'
+
+encoding = DEFAULT_ENCODING
+language = DEFAULT_LANGUAGE
+
 try:
     import locale
-    encoding = locale.getpreferredencoding(False)
-    language = locale.getlocale()[0] or locale.getdefaultlocale()[0]
+    encoding = locale.getpreferredencoding(False) or DEFAULT_ENCODING
+    language = locale.getlocale()[0] or locale.getdefaultlocale()[0] or DEFAULT_LANGUAGE
 except:
     logger.exception('Could not determine language or encoding')
-    if not encoding:
-        encoding = 'ISO8859-1'
-    language = 'en_US'
 
 
-time_format = shared.config.get('bitmessagesettings', 'timeformat')
+if shared.config.has_option('bitmessagesettings', 'timeformat'):
+    time_format = shared.config.get('bitmessagesettings', 'timeformat')
+    #Test the format string
+    try:
+        time.strftime(time_format)
+    except:
+        time_format = DEFAULT_TIME_FORMAT
+else:
+    time_format = DEFAULT_TIME_FORMAT
+
 
 def formatTimestamp(timestamp = None, as_unicode = True):
-    if timestamp and isinstance(timestamp, (float, int)):
-        timestring = time.strftime(time_format, time.localtime(timestamp))
-    else:
+    #For some reason some timestamps are strings so we need to sanitize.
+    if timestamp is not None and not isinstance(timestamp, int):
+        try:
+            timestamp = int(timestamp)
+        except:
+            timestamp = None
+
+    #timestamp can't be less than 0.
+    if timestamp is not None and timestamp < 0:
+        timestamp = None
+
+    if timestamp is None:
         timestring = time.strftime(time_format)
+    else:
+        #In case timestamp is too far in the future
+        try:
+            timestring = time.strftime(time_format, time.localtime(timestamp))
+        except ValueError:
+            timestring = time.strftime(time_format)
+
     if as_unicode:
         return unicode(timestring, encoding)
     return timestring