diff -urw a/panel-plugin/stopwatch.vala b/panel-plugin/stopwatch.vala
--- a/panel-plugin/stopwatch.vala	2009-07-28 00:45:14.000000000 +0200
+++ b/panel-plugin/stopwatch.vala	2010-10-01 15:21:24.780695069 +0200
@@ -195,7 +195,10 @@
 	}
 
 	private void load (Xfce.PanelPlugin panel_plugin) {
-		var rc = new Xfce.Rc (panel_plugin.lookup_rc_file (), true);
+		var file = panel_plugin.lookup_rc_file ();
+		if (file == null)
+			return;
+		var rc = new Xfce.Rc (file, true);
 		var elapsed = MyTimeVal.zero ();
 		rc.read_entry ("elapsed_sec",  "0").scanf ("%ld", out elapsed.tv_sec);
 		rc.read_entry ("elapsed_usec", "0").scanf ("%ld", out elapsed.tv_usec);