diff --git a/src/Keys.cc b/src/Keys.cc
index 84e5eb80..0b8efe59 100644
--- a/src/Keys.cc
+++ b/src/Keys.cc
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 
 #include "FbTk/EventManager.hh"
 #include "FbTk/StringUtil.hh"
+#include "FbTk/FileUtil.hh"
 #include "FbTk/App.hh"
 #include "FbTk/Command.hh"
 #include "FbTk/RefCount.hh"
@@ -276,6 +277,10 @@ void Keys::reload() {
 
     FbTk::App::instance()->sync(false);
 
+    if (! FbTk::FileUtil::isRegularFile(m_filename.c_str())) {
+        return;
+    }
+
     // open the file
     ifstream infile(m_filename.c_str());
     if (!infile) {
diff --git a/util/fluxbox-update_configs.cc b/util/fluxbox-update_configs.cc
index fcb9bc22..85bbbfef 100644
--- a/util/fluxbox-update_configs.cc
+++ b/util/fluxbox-update_configs.cc
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "../src/FbTk/I18n.hh"
 #include "../src/FbTk/Resource.hh"
 #include "../src/FbTk/StringUtil.hh"
+#include "../src/FbTk/FileUtil.hh"
 
 #include "defaults.hh"
 
@@ -473,11 +474,9 @@ string read_file(const string& filename) {
     if (it != file_cache.end())
         return it->second;
 
-    struct stat s;
-    stat(filename.c_str(), &s);
-
-    if (! (s.st_mode & S_IFREG))
+    if (!FbTk::FileUtil::isRegularFile(filename.c_str())) {
         return "";
+    }
 
     // nope, we'll have to read the file
     ifstream infile(filename.c_str());