diff --git a/html/inc/account.inc b/html/inc/account.inc
index 5b4a9c02ba..cf379c2f90 100644
--- a/html/inc/account.inc
+++ b/html/inc/account.inc
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 // forms for account creation and login
 
 function create_account_form($teamid, $next_url) {
+    global $recaptcha_public_key;
     echo "
         <form action=\"create_account_action.php\" method=\"post\">
         <input type=hidden name=next_url value=\"$next_url\">
@@ -75,13 +76,12 @@ function create_account_form($teamid, $next_url) {
         );
     }
 
-    // Check if we're reCaptcha to prevent spam accounts
+    // Check if we're using reCaptcha to prevent spam accounts
     //
-    $publickey = parse_config(get_config(), "<recaptcha_public_key>");
-    if ($publickey) {
+    if ($recaptcha_public_key) {
         row2(
             "",
-            boinc_recaptcha_get_html($publickey)
+            boinc_recaptcha_get_html($recaptcha_public_key)
         );
     }
 
diff --git a/html/inc/recaptchalib.php b/html/inc/recaptchalib.php
index 6437fed987..6c55f424e5 100644
--- a/html/inc/recaptchalib.php
+++ b/html/inc/recaptchalib.php
@@ -22,16 +22,15 @@
 require('../inc/recaptcha_loader.php');
 
 function boinc_recaptcha_get_head_extra() {
-    // are we using recaptcha?
-    $publickey = parse_config(get_config(), "<recaptcha_public_key>");
-    if ($publickey) {
+    global $recaptcha_public_key;
+    if ($recaptcha_public_key) {
         // the meta tag must be included
         // for Recaptcha to work with some IE browsers
         return '<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE8" >
-        <script src="https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js" async defer></script>';
-    } else {
-        return null;
+        <script src="https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js" async defer></script>
+        ';
     }
+    return "";
 }
 
 function boinc_recaptcha_get_html($publickey) {
@@ -56,4 +55,4 @@ function boinc_recaptcha_isValidated($privatekey) {
     return true;
 }
 
-?>
\ No newline at end of file
+?>
diff --git a/html/inc/util.inc b/html/inc/util.inc
index 18ae4b3122..b23aa75d52 100644
--- a/html/inc/util.inc
+++ b/html/inc/util.inc
@@ -31,7 +31,13 @@ require_once("../inc/translation.inc");
 require_once("../inc/profile.inc");
 require_once("../inc/bootstrap.inc");
 
-$master_url = parse_config(get_config(), "<master_url>");
+// parse some stuff from config (do it here for efficiency)
+//
+$config = get_config();
+$master_url = parse_config($config , "<master_url>");
+$no_computing =  parse_bool($config, "no_computing");
+$recaptcha_public_key = parse_config($config, "<recaptcha_public_key>");
+$recaptcha_private_key = parse_config($config, "<recaptcha_private_key>");
 
 // don't allow /... at the end of URL
 
@@ -533,7 +539,8 @@ function check_tokens($auth) {
 }
 
 function no_computing() {
-    return parse_bool(get_config(), "no_computing");
+    global $no_computing;
+    return $no_computing;
 }
 
 // Generates a legal filename from a parameter string.