diff -Naurp xfdesktop.bak/src/xfdesktop-icon-view.c xfdesktop/src/xfdesktop-icon-view.c
--- xfdesktop.bak/src/xfdesktop-icon-view.c	2008-10-14 19:47:33.000000000 +0200
+++ xfdesktop/src/xfdesktop-icon-view.c	2008-10-16 10:45:29.000000000 +0200
@@ -168,6 +168,9 @@ struct _XfdesktopIconViewPrivate
     gdouble cell_text_width_proportion;
 
     gboolean ellipsize_icon_labels;
+
+    GdkGC *shadow_gc;
+    GdkGC *selected_shadow_gc;
 };
 
 static gboolean xfdesktop_icon_view_button_press(GtkWidget *widget,
@@ -464,6 +467,9 @@ xfdesktop_icon_view_init(XfdesktopIconVi
                                                            NULL,
                                                            (GDestroyNotify)xfdesktop_ird_free);
     
+    icon_view->priv->shadow_gc = NULL;
+    icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_gc = NULL;
+
     icon_view->priv->icon_size = DEFAULT_ICON_SIZE;
     icon_view->priv->font_size = DEFAULT_FONT_SIZE;
 
@@ -1379,6 +1385,7 @@ xfdesktop_icon_view_style_set(GtkWidget 
 {
     XfdesktopIconView *icon_view = XFDESKTOP_ICON_VIEW(widget);
     GtkWidget *dummy;
+    GtkWidget *toplevel = NULL;
 
     gtk_widget_style_get(GTK_WIDGET(icon_view),
                          "label-alpha",   &icon_view->priv->label_alpha,
@@ -1465,6 +1472,22 @@ xfdesktop_icon_view_style_set(GtkWidget 
     GTK_WIDGET_CLASS(xfdesktop_icon_view_parent_class)->style_set(widget,
                                                                   previous_style);
 
+    toplevel = gtk_widget_get_toplevel(widget);
+
+    if(icon_view->priv->shadow_color && GTK_WIDGET_TOPLEVEL(toplevel)) {
+        if(icon_view->priv->shadow_gc)
+            g_object_unref(G_OBJECT(icon_view->priv->shadow_gc));
+        icon_view->priv->shadow_gc = gdk_gc_new(GDK_DRAWABLE(toplevel->window));
+        gdk_gc_set_rgb_fg_color(icon_view->priv->shadow_gc, icon_view->priv->shadow_color);
+    }
+
+    if(icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_color && GTK_WIDGET_TOPLEVEL(toplevel)) {
+        if(icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_gc)
+            g_object_unref(G_OBJECT(icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_gc));    
+        icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_gc = gdk_gc_new(GDK_DRAWABLE(toplevel->window));
+        gdk_gc_set_rgb_fg_color(icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_gc, icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_color);
+    }
+
     /* do this after we're sure we have a style set */
     if(!icon_view->priv->selection_box_color) {
         GtkStyle *style = gtk_widget_get_style(widget);
@@ -1646,6 +1669,16 @@ xfdesktop_icon_view_unrealize(GtkWidget 
         gdk_color_free(icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_color);
         icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_color = NULL;
     }
+
+    if(icon_view->priv->shadow_gc) {
+        g_object_unref(G_OBJECT(icon_view->priv->shadow_gc));
+        icon_view->priv->shadow_gc = NULL;
+    }
+
+    if(icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_gc) {
+        g_object_unref(G_OBJECT(icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_gc));
+        icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_gc = NULL;
+    }
     
     widget->window = NULL;
     GTK_WIDGET_UNSET_FLAGS(widget, GTK_REALIZED);
@@ -2144,7 +2177,7 @@ xfdesktop_icon_view_paint_icon(Xfdesktop
     const gchar *label;
     guint16 row, col;
     gchar x_offset = 0, y_offset = 0;
-    GdkColor *sh_text_col = NULL;
+    GdkGC *sh_text_gc = NULL;
     
     /*TRACE("entering (%s)", xfdesktop_icon_peek_label(icon));*/
     
@@ -2234,27 +2267,22 @@ xfdesktop_icon_view_paint_icon(Xfdesktop
     if (state == GTK_STATE_NORMAL) {
         x_offset = icon_view->priv->shadow_x_offset;
         y_offset = icon_view->priv->shadow_y_offset;
-        sh_text_col = icon_view->priv->shadow_color;
+        sh_text_gc = icon_view->priv->shadow_gc;
     } else {
         x_offset = icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_x_offset;
         y_offset = icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_y_offset;
-        sh_text_col = icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_color;
+        sh_text_gc = icon_view->priv->selected_shadow_gc;
     }
 
     /* draw text shadow for the label text if an offset was defined */
-    if (x_offset || y_offset) {
+    if (x_offset || y_offset && sh_text_gc) {
         GdkGC *tmp_gc;
 
-        /* FIXME: it's probably not good for performance to create and
-         * destroy a GC every time an icon gets painted.  might want
-         * to cache this somewhere. */
-
-        /* save the original gc */
-        tmp_gc = gdk_gc_new(GDK_DRAWABLE(widget->window));
-        gdk_gc_copy(tmp_gc, widget->style->text_gc[state]);
+        /* save the original gc pointer */
+        tmp_gc = widget->style->text_gc[state];
 
-        /* set the new foreground color */
-        gdk_gc_set_rgb_fg_color(widget->style->text_gc[state], sh_text_col);
+        /* set the new gc */
+        widget->style->text_gc[state] = sh_text_gc;
 
         /* paint the shadow */
         gtk_paint_layout(widget->style, widget->window, state, TRUE,
@@ -2264,10 +2292,7 @@ xfdesktop_icon_view_paint_icon(Xfdesktop
                          playout);
 
         /* restore the original gc */
-        gdk_gc_copy(widget->style->text_gc[state], tmp_gc);
-
-        /* clean */
-        g_object_unref(G_OBJECT(tmp_gc));
+        widget->style->text_gc[state] = tmp_gc;
     }
     
     xfdesktop_paint_rounded_box(icon_view, state, &text_area, &adj_area);