diff --git a/Tools/idle/IdleConf.py b/Tools/idle/IdleConf.py
index 37f4ef1b0c7..8eaa8e06b58 100644
--- a/Tools/idle/IdleConf.py
+++ b/Tools/idle/IdleConf.py
@@ -110,3 +110,4 @@ def load(dir):
                    os.path.join(homedir, ".idle")))
 
 idleconf = IdleConfParser()
+load(os.path.dirname(__file__))
diff --git a/Tools/idle/idle.py b/Tools/idle/idle.py
index f42327c9b39..8638a165b4b 100755
--- a/Tools/idle/idle.py
+++ b/Tools/idle/idle.py
@@ -1,12 +1,4 @@
 #! /usr/bin/env python
 
-import os
-import sys
-import IdleConf
-
-idle_dir = os.path.dirname(IdleConf.__file__)
-IdleConf.load(idle_dir)
-
-# defer importing Pyshell until IdleConf is loaded
 import PyShell
 PyShell.main()