diff --git a/src/Orchard.Web/Config/log4net.config b/src/Orchard.Web/Config/log4net.config
index 0c1c1a8b7..c77f44335 100644
--- a/src/Orchard.Web/Config/log4net.config
+++ b/src/Orchard.Web/Config/log4net.config
@@ -1,24 +1,69 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
 <log4net>
+  <!-- 
+  If you are looking here and want more output, 
+  first thing to do is change root/priority/@value to "INFO" or "ALL" 
+  -->
+  
   <root>
     <!-- Value of priority may be ALL, DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, FATAL, OFF -->
     <priority value="WARN" />
-    <appender-ref ref="RollingLogFileAppender" />
+    
+    <appender-ref ref="error-file" />
+    <appender-ref ref="debug-file" />
   </root>
 
+  <logger name="Orchard">
+    <!-- messages coming from orchard are provided to the attached debugger -->
+    <appender-ref ref="debugger"/>
+
+    <!-- 
+    note: if you put a ref=debugger into root above and widen the priority to ALL or DEBUG,
+    then you will see nhibernate trace in the attached debugger as well
+    -->
+  </logger>
+
   <logger name="Orchard.Localization">
+    <!-- this source is very verbose - setting priority here to avoid flooding trace if root priority is lowered -->
     <priority value="WARN" />
-    <appender-ref ref="RollingLogFileAppender" />
   </logger>
 
-  <logger name="Orchard.Data.SessionLocator">
-    <priority value="INFO" />
-    <appender-ref ref="RollingLogFileAppender" />
-  </logger>
 
-  <appender name="RollingLogFileAppender" type="Orchard.Logging.OrchardFileAppender">
+  <!-- example of turning on the output from a component or namespace-->
+  <!--
+    <logger name="Orchard.Data.SessionLocator">
+      <priority value="INFO" />
+    </logger>
+  -->
+
+
+  <!-- debugger: visual studio, if attached -->
+  <appender name="debugger" type="log4net.Appender.DebugAppender">
+    <immediateFlush value="true" />
+    <layout type="log4net.Layout.SimpleLayout" />
+  </appender>
+
+  <!-- debug log: all messages, based on logger priority settings of namespaces above -->
+  <appender name="debug-file" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
     <file value="App_Data/Logs/orchard-debug-" />
     <appendToFile value="true" />
+    <immediateFlush value="false" />
+
+    <staticLogFileName value="false" />
+    <rollingStyle value="Date" />
+    <datepattern value="dd.MM.yyyy-hh_mm_ss.fff'.log'" />
+
+    <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
+      <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %logger - %message%newline" />
+    </layout>
+  </appender>
+
+  <!-- error log: only ERROR and FATAL subset of debug log -->
+  <appender name="error-file" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
+    <file value="App_Data/Logs/orchard-error-" />
+    <appendToFile value="true" />
+
+    <!-- immediate flush on error log, to avoid data loss with sudden termination -->
     <immediateFlush value="true" />
 
     <staticLogFileName value="false" />
@@ -26,6 +71,11 @@
     <rollingStyleFrequency value="Once" />
     <datepattern value="dd.MM.yyyy-hh_mm_ss.fff'.log'" />
 
+    <!-- only error and fatal messages end up in this target, even if child loggers accept lower priority -->
+    <filter type="log4net.Filter.LevelRangeFilter">
+      <levelMin value="ERROR" />
+    </filter>
+
     <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
       <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %logger - %message%newline" />
     </layout>