diff --git a/src/addRun.cpp b/src/addRun.cpp
index 2cf7ea37..7ad8cf6f 100644
--- a/src/addRun.cpp
+++ b/src/addRun.cpp
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 
 #include <iostream>
 #include <fstream>
+#include <memory>
 
 #include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
 #include <boost/filesystem.hpp>
@@ -535,40 +536,22 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
   // read startup file
   char startup_path_name[128];
-  TSAXParser *saxParser = new TSAXParser();
-  PStartupHandler *startupHandler = new PStartupHandler();
+  std::unique_ptr<TSAXParser> saxParser = std::unique_ptr<TSAXParser>(new TSAXParser());
+  std::unique_ptr<PStartupHandler> startupHandler = std::unique_ptr<PStartupHandler>(new PStartupHandler());
   if (!startupHandler->StartupFileFound()) {
     std::cerr << std::endl << ">> addRun **WARNING** couldn't find " << startupHandler->GetStartupFilePath().Data();
     std::cerr << std::endl;
-    // clean up
-    if (saxParser) {
-      delete saxParser;
-      saxParser = nullptr;
-    }
-    if (startupHandler) {
-      delete startupHandler;
-      startupHandler = nullptr;
-    }
   } else {
     strcpy(startup_path_name, startupHandler->GetStartupFilePath().Data());
-    saxParser->ConnectToHandler("PStartupHandler", startupHandler);
+    saxParser->ConnectToHandler("PStartupHandler", startupHandler.get());
     //status = saxParser->ParseFile(startup_path_name);
     // parsing the file as above seems to lead to problems in certain environments;
     // use the parseXmlFile function instead (see PStartupHandler.cpp for the definition)
-    status = parseXmlFile(saxParser, startup_path_name);
+    status = parseXmlFile(saxParser.get(), startup_path_name);
     // check for parse errors
     if (status) { // error
       std::cerr << std::endl << ">> addRun **WARNING** Reading/parsing musrfit_startup.xml failed.";
       std::cerr << std::endl;
-      // clean up
-      if (saxParser) {
-        delete saxParser;
-        saxParser = nullptr;
-      }
-      if (startupHandler) {
-        delete startupHandler;
-        startupHandler = nullptr;
-      }
     } else {
       startupHandler->CheckLists();
     }
@@ -639,12 +622,12 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
   }
 
   // load the files
-  std::vector<PRunDataHandler*> runDataHandler;
+  std::vector< std::unique_ptr<PRunDataHandler> > runDataHandler;
   runDataHandler.resize(addRunInfo.size());
   Bool_t isGood{true};
   for (UInt_t i=0; i<runDataHandler.size(); i++) {
     if (startupHandler != nullptr) {
-      runDataHandler[i] = new PRunDataHandler(addRunInfo[i].fPathFileName, addRunInfo[i].fFileFormat, startupHandler->GetDataPathList());
+      runDataHandler[i] = std::unique_ptr<PRunDataHandler>(new PRunDataHandler(addRunInfo[i].fPathFileName, addRunInfo[i].fFileFormat, startupHandler->GetDataPathList()));
       if (runDataHandler[i] == nullptr) {
         isGood = false;
         std::cerr << std::endl;
@@ -661,7 +644,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
         break;
       }
     } else {
-      runDataHandler[i] = new PRunDataHandler(addRunInfo[i].fPathFileName, addRunInfo[i].fFileFormat);
+      runDataHandler[i] = std::unique_ptr<PRunDataHandler>(new PRunDataHandler(addRunInfo[i].fPathFileName, addRunInfo[i].fFileFormat));
       if (runDataHandler[i] == nullptr) {
         isGood = false;
         std::cerr << std::endl;
@@ -683,8 +666,8 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
   // make sure that the number of provided t0's are matching the number of histos from the run-file
 
   // 1st make sure all the runs have the same number run data (==1 here)
-  PAny2ManyInfo *info{nullptr};
-  PRunDataHandler *dataOut{nullptr};
+  std::unique_ptr<PAny2ManyInfo> info;
+  std::unique_ptr<PRunDataHandler> dataOut;
   if (isGood) {
     for (UInt_t i=1; i<runDataHandler.size(); i++) {
       if (runDataHandler[0]->GetNoOfRunData() != runDataHandler[i]->GetNoOfRunData()) {
@@ -695,7 +678,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
         break;
       }
     }
-    info = new PAny2ManyInfo();
+    info = std::unique_ptr<PAny2ManyInfo>(new PAny2ManyInfo());
     if (info == nullptr) {
       std::cerr << std::endl;
       std::cerr << "**ERROR** couldn't invoke PAny2ManyInfo." << std::endl;
@@ -709,7 +692,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
     info->outFormat = format;
     info->year = year;
     info->outFileName = flnOut;
-    dataOut = new PRunDataHandler(info);
+    dataOut = std::unique_ptr<PRunDataHandler>(new PRunDataHandler(info.get()));
     if (dataOut == nullptr) {
       std::cerr << std::endl;
       std::cerr << "**ERROR** couldn't invoke PRunDataHandler for the output file." << std::endl;
@@ -812,8 +795,8 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
     }
 
     // feed all the necessary information for the data file
-    PRawRunData *rawRunData = new PRawRunData();
-    rawRunData = runDataHandler[0]->GetRunData(); // copy all
+    std::unique_ptr<PRawRunData> rawRunData = std::unique_ptr<PRawRunData>(new PRawRunData());
+    rawRunData = std::unique_ptr<PRawRunData>(runDataHandler[0]->GetRunData()); // copy all
     rawRunData->SetGenerator("addRun");
     // overwrite the t0 values with the new ones
     for (UInt_t i=0; i<rawRunData->GetNoOfHistos(); i++) {
@@ -825,27 +808,11 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
     }
 
     // feed run data handler with new data
-    if (dataOut->SetRunData(rawRunData)) {
+    if (dataOut->SetRunData(rawRunData.get())) {
       // write output file
       dataOut->WriteData();
     }
   }
 
-  // clean up
-  if (startupHandler) {
-    delete startupHandler;
-  }
-  if (info) {
-    delete info;
-  }
-  if (dataOut) {
-    delete dataOut;
-  }
-  for (int i=0; i<runDataHandler.size(); i++) {
-    if (runDataHandler[i])
-      delete runDataHandler[i];
-  }
-  runDataHandler.clear();  
-
   return PMUSR_SUCCESS;
 }