diff --git a/lib/database_model.cpp b/lib/database_model.cpp
index 5933ad33..6c94eddb 100644
--- a/lib/database_model.cpp
+++ b/lib/database_model.cpp
@@ -422,13 +422,9 @@ void database_model::as_default_database(const QString &db)
 	}
 
 	if (file.open(QIODevice::ReadWrite)) {
-		QByteArray ba;
-		if (isRemoteDB(db))
-			ba = filename2bytearray(db);
-		else
-			ba = filename2bytearray(relativePath(db));
-		ba += '\n';
-		file.write(ba);
+		QByteArray ba = isRemoteDB(db) ?
+			db.toUtf8() : relativePath(db).toUtf8();
+		file.write(ba + '\n');
 		/* write() failed? Harmless. Only inconvenient */
 	}
 	file.close();
diff --git a/lib/dbhistory.cpp b/lib/dbhistory.cpp
index 70b49f8e..d2bec188 100644
--- a/lib/dbhistory.cpp
+++ b/lib/dbhistory.cpp
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ dbhistory::dbhistory()
 		ssize_t size = file.readLine(buf, sizeof buf);
 		if (size <= 0)
 			break;
-		name = filename2QString(buf).trimmed();
+		name = QString::fromUtf8(buf).trimmed();
 		if (name.size() == 0)
 			continue;
 		if (history.indexOf(name) == -1)
@@ -72,12 +72,10 @@ void dbhistory::addEntry(const QString &name)
 	if (!file.open_write())
 		return;
 
-	for (pos = 0; pos < history.size(); pos++) {
-		QByteArray ba = filename2bytearray(history[pos]);
-		ba.append('\n');
-		if (file.write(ba) <= 0)
-			break;
-	}
+	QString all = history.join("\n");
+	if (file.write(all.toUtf8()) <= 0)
+		qDebug() << "Error writing history" << file.fileName()
+			 << file.errorString();
 	file.close();
 }