diff --git a/Control/CxxUtils/cmake/CxxUtilsSettingsConfig.cmake b/Control/CxxUtils/cmake/CxxUtilsSettingsConfig.cmake
index fb8b61d260f19af1da92c29200ad465c096ec22f..67340d2b0e8dd6a01455ffe55b48bed435725b21 100644
--- a/Control/CxxUtils/cmake/CxxUtilsSettingsConfig.cmake
+++ b/Control/CxxUtils/cmake/CxxUtilsSettingsConfig.cmake
@@ -29,9 +29,8 @@ endif()
 set( ATLAS_GCC_CHECKERS_CONFIG ${_config}
    CACHE STRING "Configuration file(s) for the GCC checker plugins" FORCE )
 
-
 # CppCheck options:
-option( ATLAS_USE_CPPCHECK "Use CppCheck in the build" OFF )
+option( ATLAS_USE_CPPCHECK "Use CppCheck in the build" ON )
 
 # User-defined cppcheck command line options:
 set( ATLAS_CPPCHECK_OPTIONS "--enable=warning,portability"
diff --git a/Projects/Athena/CMakeLists.txt b/Projects/Athena/CMakeLists.txt
index 16115f1c277ac0b5148a61533edbf858637147e9..22fc57b6bb4c35511b50ee59e21dc99a84b4208d 100644
--- a/Projects/Athena/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Projects/Athena/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -128,6 +128,8 @@ if( ATLAS_USE_CPPCHECK )
          list( JOIN CMAKE_CPPCHECK_DEFAULT " " _cmd )
          message( STATUS "Checking C/C++ files with: ${_cmd}" )
       endif()
+   else()
+      message( WARNING "Cppcheck is enabled via ATLAS_USE_CPPCHECK but cannot be found.")
    endif()
 endif()
 
diff --git a/Projects/WorkDir/CMakeLists.txt b/Projects/WorkDir/CMakeLists.txt
index d7daba14395aa28612c4fb57b8fc0586fa0eefc2..485c72ba8965a46969c50c4f3dd79d5afa402417 100644
--- a/Projects/WorkDir/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Projects/WorkDir/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -138,6 +138,8 @@ if( ATLAS_USE_CPPCHECK )
          list( JOIN CMAKE_CPPCHECK_DEFAULT " " _cmd )
          message( STATUS "Checking C/C++ files with: ${_cmd}" )
       endif()
+   else()
+      message( WARNING "Cppcheck is enabled via ATLAS_USE_CPPCHECK but cannot be found.")
    endif()
 endif()