diff --git a/clamd.go b/clamd.go
index 5199f63..fa5a9e3 100644
--- a/clamd.go
+++ b/clamd.go
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ const (
 	RES_FOUND       = "FOUND"
 	RES_ERROR       = "ERROR"
 	RES_PARSE_ERROR = "PARSE ERROR"
+	CHUNK_SIZE      = 1024
 )
 
 type Clamd struct {
@@ -104,6 +105,11 @@ func (c *Clamd) simpleCommand(command string) (chan *ScanResult, error) {
 	return ch, err
 }
 
+func (c *Clamd) simpleCommandWithPath(commandName string, path string) (chan *ScanResult, error) {
+	command := fmt.Sprintf("%s %s", commandName, path)
+	return c.simpleCommand(command)
+}
+
 /*
 Check the daemon's state (should reply with PONG).
 */
@@ -122,8 +128,6 @@ func (c *Clamd) Ping() error {
 			return errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("Invalid response, got %s.", s))
 		}
 	}
-
-	return nil
 }
 
 /*
@@ -185,17 +189,14 @@ func (c *Clamd) Reload() error {
 			return errors.New(fmt.Sprintf("Invalid response, got %s.", s))
 		}
 	}
-
-	return nil
 }
 
-func (c *Clamd) Shutdown() error {
-	_, err := c.simpleCommand("SHUTDOWN")
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	return err
+/*
+Sends the SHUTDOWN command to the ClamdAV instance
+*/
+func (c *Clamd) Shutdown() (err error) {
+	_, err = c.simpleCommand("SHUTDOWN")
+	return
 }
 
 /*
@@ -203,9 +204,7 @@ Scan file or directory (recursively) with archive support enabled (a full path i
 required).
 */
 func (c *Clamd) ScanFile(path string) (chan *ScanResult, error) {
-	command := fmt.Sprintf("SCAN %s", path)
-	ch, err := c.simpleCommand(command)
-	return ch, err
+	return c.simpleCommandWithPath("Scan", path)
 }
 
 /*
@@ -213,9 +212,7 @@ Scan file or directory (recursively) with archive and special file support disab
 (a full path is required).
 */
 func (c *Clamd) RawScanFile(path string) (chan *ScanResult, error) {
-	command := fmt.Sprintf("RAWSCAN %s", path)
-	ch, err := c.simpleCommand(command)
-	return ch, err
+	return c.simpleCommandWithPath("RAWSCAN", path)
 }
 
 /*
@@ -223,9 +220,7 @@ Scan file in a standard way or scan directory (recursively) using multiple threa
 (to make the scanning faster on SMP machines).
 */
 func (c *Clamd) MultiScanFile(path string) (chan *ScanResult, error) {
-	command := fmt.Sprintf("MULTISCAN %s", path)
-	ch, err := c.simpleCommand(command)
-	return ch, err
+	return c.simpleCommandWithPath("MULTISCAN", path)
 }
 
 /*
@@ -233,9 +228,7 @@ Scan file or directory (recursively) with archive support enabled and don’t st
 the scanning when a virus is found.
 */
 func (c *Clamd) ContScanFile(path string) (chan *ScanResult, error) {
-	command := fmt.Sprintf("CONTSCAN %s", path)
-	ch, err := c.simpleCommand(command)
-	return ch, err
+	return c.simpleCommandWithPath("CONTSCAN", path)
 }
 
 /*
@@ -243,9 +236,7 @@ Scan file or directory (recursively) with archive support enabled and don’t st
 the scanning when a virus is found.
 */
 func (c *Clamd) AllMatchScanFile(path string) (chan *ScanResult, error) {
-	command := fmt.Sprintf("ALLMATCHSCAN %s", path)
-	ch, err := c.simpleCommand(command)
-	return ch, err
+	return c.simpleCommandWithPath("ALLMATCHSCAN", path)
 }
 
 /*
@@ -306,6 +297,5 @@ func (c *Clamd) ScanStream(r io.Reader, abort chan bool) (chan *ScanResult, erro
 }
 
 func NewClamd(address string) *Clamd {
-	clamd := &Clamd{address: address}
-	return clamd
+	return &Clamd{address: address}
 }
diff --git a/conn.go b/conn.go
index 5c9f7f9..1646e68 100644
--- a/conn.go
+++ b/conn.go
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ import (
 	"time"
 )
 
-const CHUNK_SIZE = 1024
 const TCP_TIMEOUT = time.Second * 2
 
 var resultRegex = regexp.MustCompile(
@@ -81,11 +80,11 @@ func (conn *CLAMDConn) sendChunk(data []byte) error {
 	return err
 }
 
-func (c *CLAMDConn) readResponse() (chan *ScanResult, *sync.WaitGroup, error) {
+func (conn *CLAMDConn) readResponse() (chan *ScanResult, *sync.WaitGroup, error) {
 	var wg sync.WaitGroup
 
 	wg.Add(1)
-	reader := bufio.NewReader(c)
+	reader := bufio.NewReader(conn)
 	ch := make(chan *ScanResult)
 
 	go func() {