diff --git a/kmmainwin.cpp b/kmmainwin.cpp
index 62c86d1ef..af46944d2 100644
--- a/kmmainwin.cpp
+++ b/kmmainwin.cpp
@@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ void KMMainWin::readConfig(void)
   (*mVertPannerSep)[1] = w - (*mVertPannerSep)[0];
 
   mMsgView->readConfig();
+  slotSetEncoding();
   mHeaders->readConfig();
   mFolderTree->readConfig();
 
@@ -345,12 +346,8 @@ void KMMainWin::createWidgets(void)
 		     mHeaders, SLOT(nextMessage()));
 
   if (!mEncodingStr.isEmpty())
-    if (mEncodingStr != i18n("Auto"))
-      mCodec = KMMsgBase::codecForName(mEncodingStr);
-    else
-      mCodec = 0;
-  else
-    mCodec = KGlobal::charsets()->codecForName("iso8859-1");
+    mCodec = KMMsgBase::codecForName(mEncodingStr);
+  else mCodec = 0;
 
   // create HTML reader widget
   mMsgView = new KMReaderWin(pnrMsgView);
@@ -464,11 +461,14 @@ void KMMainWin::slotSetEncoding()
 {
     mEncodingStr = KGlobal::charsets()->encodingForName(mEncoding->currentText());
     if (mEncoding->currentItem() == 0) // Auto
-       mCodec = 0;
-     else
-       mCodec = KMMsgBase::codecForName( mEncodingStr );
-     mMsgView->setCodec(mCodec);
-     return;
+    {
+      mCodec = 0;
+      mEncodingStr = "";
+    }
+    else
+      mCodec = KMMsgBase::codecForName( mEncodingStr );
+    mMsgView->setCodec(mCodec);
+    return;
 }
 
 //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/kmreaderwin.cpp b/kmreaderwin.cpp
index 5b3e2bda4..50ea46780 100644
--- a/kmreaderwin.cpp
+++ b/kmreaderwin.cpp
@@ -197,10 +197,6 @@ void KMReaderWin::readConfig(void)
   mHeaderStyle = (HeaderStyle)config->readNumEntry("hdr-style", HdrFancy);
   mAttachmentStyle = (AttachmentStyle)config->readNumEntry("attmnt-style",
 							   SmartAttmnt);
-  encoding = config->readEntry("encoding", "iso8859-1" );
-  mCodec = KMMsgBase::codecForName(encoding);
-  mAutoDetectEncoding = config->readBoolEntry("autodetect-encoding", true );
-
   fntSize = 0;
 
   config->setGroup("Fonts");
@@ -238,17 +234,10 @@ void KMReaderWin::readConfig(void)
 void KMReaderWin::writeConfig(bool aWithSync)
 {
   KConfig *config = kapp->config();
-  QString encoding = "";
-  if (mCodec)
-      encoding = mCodec->name();
-
   config->setGroup("Reader");
   config->writeEntry("attach-inline", mAtmInline);
   config->writeEntry("hdr-style", (int)mHeaderStyle);
   config->writeEntry("attmnt-style",(int)mAttachmentStyle);
-  config->writeEntry("encoding", encoding);
-  config->writeEntry("autodetect-encoding", mAutoDetectEncoding);
-
   if (aWithSync) config->sync();
 }