diff --git a/ede-preferred-applications/AppChoice.cpp b/ede-preferred-applications/AppChoice.cpp
index 5adceb8..188a211 100644
--- a/ede-preferred-applications/AppChoice.cpp
+++ b/ede-preferred-applications/AppChoice.cpp
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ void AppChoice::add_if_user_program(const char *cmd) {
 
 	if(found) return;
 
+	user_val = cmd;
 	replace(size() - 2, get_basename(cmd));
 	add(_("Browse..."));
 }
@@ -70,6 +71,16 @@ void AppChoice::select_by_cmd(const char *cmd) {
 
 	int pos;
 
+	if(!user_val.empty()) {
+		const char *b = get_basename(user_val.c_str());
+		pos = find_index(b);
+		if(pos >= 0) {
+			value(pos);
+			pvalue = pos;
+			return;
+		}
+	}
+
 	for(int i = 0; known_apps[i].name; i++) {
 		if(STR_CMP(cmd, known_apps[i].cmd)) {
 			/* now find menu entry with this name */
@@ -94,7 +105,7 @@ const char *AppChoice::selected(void) {
 	const char *n = text();
 
 	/* first check if user one was selected */
-	if(!user_val.empty() && STR_CMP(get_basename(user_val.c_str()), n));
+	if(!user_val.empty() && STR_CMP(get_basename(user_val.c_str()), n))
 		return user_val.c_str();
 
 	for(int i = 0; known_apps[i].name; i++) {
diff --git a/ede-preferred-applications/ede-preferred-applications.cpp b/ede-preferred-applications/ede-preferred-applications.cpp
index 2e598d4..991a35c 100644
--- a/ede-preferred-applications/ede-preferred-applications.cpp
+++ b/ede-preferred-applications/ede-preferred-applications.cpp
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 #include "AppChoice.h"
 
+#define EMPTY_STR(s) (s[0] == '\0' || (strlen(s) == 0))
+
 EDELIB_NS_USING_AS(Window, EdeWindow)
 EDELIB_NS_USING(Resource)
 
@@ -33,7 +35,7 @@ static void check_and_store(AppChoice *c, const char *n, Resource &rc) {
 /* load separate item */
 static void check_and_load(AppChoice *c, const char *n, Resource &rc) {
 	static char buf[128];
-	if(rc.get("Preferred", n, buf, sizeof(buf)) && strlen(buf) > 0) {
+	if(rc.get("Preferred", n, buf, sizeof(buf)) && !EMPTY_STR(buf)) {
 		c->add_if_user_program(buf);
 		c->select_by_cmd(buf);
 	}