diff --git a/.profile b/.profile
index 6157bbc..a8b90d9 100644
--- a/.profile
+++ b/.profile
@@ -7,14 +7,33 @@
 # the default umask is set in /etc/profile; for setting the umask
 # for ssh logins, install and configure the libpam-umask package.
 #umask 022
+VISUAL=vim
+EDITOR=vim
 
-eval "$(ssh-agent)"
+SSH_ENV="$HOME/.ssh/environment"
+function start_agent {
+     echo "Initialising new SSH agent..."
+     /usr/bin/ssh-agent | sed 's/^echo/#echo/' > "${SSH_ENV}"
+     echo "succeeded"
+     chmod 600 "${SSH_ENV}"
+     . "${SSH_ENV}" > /dev/null
+}
+
+# source SSH settings, if applicable
+if [ -f "${SSH_ENV}" ]; then
+     . "${SSH_ENV}" > /dev/null
+     ps -ef | grep ${SSH_AGENT_PID} | grep ssh-agent$ > /dev/null || {
+         start_agent;
+     }
+else
+     start_agent;
+fi
 
 # if running bash
 if [ -n "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then
     # include .bashrc if it exists
     if [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then
-	. "$HOME/.bashrc"
+        . "$HOME/.bashrc"
     fi
 fi
 
diff --git a/vim/.vimrc b/vim/.vimrc
index c8f8738..30072de 100755
--- a/vim/.vimrc
+++ b/vim/.vimrc
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ au BufWinLeave *.py mkview
 au BufWinEnter *.py silent loadview
 
 " file specific formatting
-autocmd Filetype python setlocal tabstop=4 softtabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 expandtab autoindent fileformat=unix
+autocmd Filetype python,bash,sh setlocal tabstop=4 softtabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 expandtab autoindent fileformat=unix
 autocmd Filetype css,html,htmldjango,javascript setlocal tabstop=2 softtabstop=2 shiftwidth=2
 
 " fold methods based on indents