diff --git a/Control/AthAnalysisBaseComps/AthAnalysisBaseComps/AthAnalysisHelper.h b/Control/AthAnalysisBaseComps/AthAnalysisBaseComps/AthAnalysisHelper.h
index fcb2e8f67dd4ad165db6aa7c1d61fb869004e3cf..3c77ac977df1b4b741aacb1a5d59a84f4d5af668 100644
--- a/Control/AthAnalysisBaseComps/AthAnalysisBaseComps/AthAnalysisHelper.h
+++ b/Control/AthAnalysisBaseComps/AthAnalysisBaseComps/AthAnalysisHelper.h
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@
 
 #include "GaudiKernel/IAppMgrUI.h"
 
+
+#include "GaudiKernel/ToolHandle.h"
+
 class AthAnalysisHelper { //thought about being a namespace but went for static methods instead, in case I want private data members in future
 
 public:
@@ -124,10 +127,15 @@ public:
       return theAlg->setProperty(property, value);
    }
 
+  template<typename T> static std::string toString(const T& value) { return Gaudi::Utils::toString( value ); }
+  static std::string toString(const std::string& value) { return value; } //gaudi's toString puts extra quote marks around things like "['b']" .. should probably stop that..
+  static std::string toString(const char* value) { return value; } //gaudi's toString puts extra quote marks around things like "['b']" .. should probably stop that..
+
+
    ///setProperty for services ... will allow setProperty on already-existing services
    template<typename T, typename W> static StatusCode setProperty(const ServiceHandle<T>& serviceHandle, const std::string& property, const W& value) {
       if(serviceHandle.isSet()) {
-         return dynamic_cast<Service&>(*serviceHandle).setProperty(property,Gaudi::Utils::toString ( value ));
+         return dynamic_cast<Service&>(*serviceHandle).setProperty(property,toString ( value ));
       }
       std::string fullName = serviceHandle.name();
       std::string thePropertyName(property);
@@ -141,7 +149,7 @@ public:
       //check if the service already exists
       if(Gaudi::svcLocator()->existsService(serviceHandle.name())) {
          //set property on the service directly
-         return dynamic_cast<Service&>(*serviceHandle).setProperty(property,Gaudi::Utils::toString ( value ));
+         return dynamic_cast<Service&>(*serviceHandle).setProperty(property,toString ( value ));
       } 
 
       //service not existing, ok so add property to catalogue
@@ -301,6 +309,22 @@ public:
    static void printAuxElement(const SG::AuxElement& ae);
 
 
+   ///Dump the properties of an IProperty
+   //these aren't necessarily the same as what is in the JobOptionsSvc
+  static void dumpProperties(const IProperty& component);
+    
+  template<typename T> static void dumpProperties(const ServiceHandle<T>& handle) {
+    if(!handle.isSet()) {std::cout << "Please retrieve service before dumping properties" << std::endl; return;}
+    return dumpProperties(dynamic_cast<const IProperty&>(*handle));
+  }
+   template<typename T> static void dumpProperties(const ToolHandle<T>& handle) {
+    if(!handle.isSet()) {std::cout << "Please retrieve service before dumping properties" << std::endl; return;}
+    return dumpProperties(dynamic_cast<const IProperty&>(*handle));
+  }
+
+
+
+
    ///we keep a static handle to the joboptionsvc, since it's very useful
    ///can e.g. do: AAH::joSvc->readOptions("myJob.opts","$JOBOPTSEARCHPATH")
    static ServiceHandle<IJobOptionsSvc> joSvc; 
diff --git a/Control/AthAnalysisBaseComps/share/SuppressLogging.py b/Control/AthAnalysisBaseComps/share/SuppressLogging.py
index 51175357476f361236bc6ddea3a249fab299c921..250d58a7527f984f4a5452d5d5afec88d334e2e8 100644
--- a/Control/AthAnalysisBaseComps/share/SuppressLogging.py
+++ b/Control/AthAnalysisBaseComps/share/SuppressLogging.py
@@ -1,5 +1,23 @@
 
-MessageSvc.setWarning += {"ClassIDSvc","PoolSvc","AthDictLoaderSvc","AthenaPoolAddressProviderSvc","ProxyProviderSvc","DBReplicaSvc","MetaDataSvc","MetaDataStore","AthenaPoolCnvSvc","TagMetaDataStore","EventSelector","ApplicationMgr","CoreDumpSvc","AthMasterSeq","EventPersistencySvc","ActiveStoreSvc","AthenaEventLoopMgr","AthOutSeq","AthRegSeq"};
+MessageSvc.setWarning += {"ClassIDSvc",
+                          "PoolSvc",
+                          "AthDictLoaderSvc",
+                          "AthenaPoolAddressProviderSvc",
+                          "ProxyProviderSvc",
+                          "DBReplicaSvc",
+                          "MetaDataSvc",
+                          "MetaDataStore",
+                          "AthenaPoolCnvSvc",
+                          "TagMetaDataStore",
+                          "EventSelector",
+                          #"ApplicationMgr", can't silence because otherwise ATN tests fail, see ATLINFR-1235
+                          "CoreDumpSvc",
+                          "AthMasterSeq",
+                          "EventPersistencySvc",
+                          "ActiveStoreSvc",
+                          "AthenaEventLoopMgr",
+                          "AthOutSeq",
+                          "AthRegSeq"};
 
 #also silence storegates if not dumping
 if not hasattr(StoreGateSvc,"Dump") or StoreGateSvc.Dump: MessageSvc.setWarning += ["StoreGateSvc"]
diff --git a/Control/AthAnalysisBaseComps/src/AthAnalysisHelper.cxx b/Control/AthAnalysisBaseComps/src/AthAnalysisHelper.cxx
index 743ff543e5eb67f202e85ba1dd4f4a0781750b6c..f87269b3c6e0df8306ea2db91d10bb95a78e3aae 100644
--- a/Control/AthAnalysisBaseComps/src/AthAnalysisHelper.cxx
+++ b/Control/AthAnalysisBaseComps/src/AthAnalysisHelper.cxx
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ IAppMgrUI* AthAnalysisHelper::initGaudi(const char* options) {
     } else {
       propMgr->setProperty( "JobOptionsType", "NONE" ); //no joboptions given
     }
+    propMgr->setProperty("EventLoop","MinimalEventLoopMgr"); //using this instead of the default EventLoopMgr means some services (e.g. EventSelector) are not created, which is good! :-)
+
     //configure and return
     theApp->configure(); 
     propMgr->setProperty("OutputLevel","3"); //INFO
@@ -70,4 +72,10 @@ if(typeinfo==typeid(TYPE) && ae.isAvailable<TYPE>(name)) std::cout << ae.auxdata
       
 #undef PRINT_AE
    }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+
+void AthAnalysisHelper::dumpProperties(const IProperty& component) {
+  for(auto p : component.getProperties()) {
+    std::cout << p->name() << " = " << p->toString() << std::endl;
+  }
+}