diff --git a/src/Screen.cc b/src/Screen.cc
index 86799da9..309ee0de 100644
--- a/src/Screen.cc
+++ b/src/Screen.cc
@@ -1548,7 +1548,7 @@ void BScreen::setupConfigmenu(FbTk::Menu &menu) {
             "Focus New Windows", "Focus newly created windows"),
             m_resource_manager.getResource<bool>(name() + ".focusNewWindows"),
             saverc_cmd));
-    } catch (FbTk::ResourceException e) {
+    } catch (FbTk::ResourceException & e) {
         cerr<<e.what()<<endl;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/ScreenPlacement.cc b/src/ScreenPlacement.cc
index 73ddfa27..29c8b5f7 100644
--- a/src/ScreenPlacement.cc
+++ b/src/ScreenPlacement.cc
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ bool ScreenPlacement::placeWindow(const FluxboxWindow &win, int head,
     bool placed = false;
     try {
         placed = m_strategy->placeWindow(win, head, place_x, place_y);
-    } catch (std::bad_cast cast) {
+    } catch (std::bad_cast & cast) {
         // This should not happen. 
         // If for some reason we change the PlacementStrategy in Screen
         // from ScreenPlacement to something else then we might get 
diff --git a/src/main.cc b/src/main.cc
index 8aea8350..2afef3f4 100644
--- a/src/main.cc
+++ b/src/main.cc
@@ -511,7 +511,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
             << _FB_CONSOLETEXT(main, ErrorStandardException, "Standard Exception", "Error message")
             << ": "
             << e.what() << endl;
-    } catch (string error_str) {
+    } catch (string & error_str) {
         cerr << _FB_CONSOLETEXT(Common, Error, "Error", "Error message header")
             << ": "
             << error_str << endl;
diff --git a/src/tests/StringUtiltest.cc b/src/tests/StringUtiltest.cc
index a8d8d57f..b723eef6 100644
--- a/src/tests/StringUtiltest.cc
+++ b/src/tests/StringUtiltest.cc
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ int main() {
 
         cerr<<"original =  "<<replaceme<<endl;
         cerr<<"newstr   =  "<<newstr<<endl;
-    } catch (std::exception e) {
+    } catch (std::exception & e) {
         cerr<<"exception: "<<e.what()<<endl;
     }
     cerr<<"Testing stringtok."<<endl;	
diff --git a/util/fbrun/main.cc b/util/fbrun/main.cc
index edb88ffb..af059d68 100644
--- a/util/fbrun/main.cc
+++ b/util/fbrun/main.cc
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
 
         application.eventLoop();
 
-    } catch (string errstr) {
+    } catch (string & errstr) {
         cerr<<"Error: "<<errstr<<endl;
     }
 }
diff --git a/util/fbsetroot.cc b/util/fbsetroot.cc
index 71ff34d5..4e7981fd 100644
--- a/util/fbsetroot.cc
+++ b/util/fbsetroot.cc
@@ -407,7 +407,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
 
     try {
         fbsetroot app(argc, argv, display_name);
-    } catch (string error_str) {
+    } catch (string & error_str) {
         _FB_USES_NLS;
         cerr<<_FB_CONSOLETEXT(Common, Error, "Error", "Error message header")<<": "<<error_str<<endl;
     }