diff --git a/wp-admin/admin-footer.php b/wp-admin/admin-footer.php
index 4a4e82a53d..7f3da524a4 100644
--- a/wp-admin/admin-footer.php
+++ b/wp-admin/admin-footer.php
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 	<p><a href="http://wordpress.org/" id="wordpress-logo"><img src="images/wordpress-logo.png" alt="WordPress" /></a></p>
 	<p>
 		<?php _e('<a href="http://codex.wordpress.org/">Documentation</a>'); ?> &#8212; <?php _e('<a href="http://wordpress.org/support/">Support Forums</a>'); ?> <br />
-		<?php bloginfo('version'); ?> &#8212; <?php printf(__('%s seconds'), number_format(timer_stop(), 2)); ?>
+		<?php bloginfo('version'); ?> &#8212; <?php printf(__('%s seconds'), timer_stop(0, 2)); ?>
 	</p>
 </div>
 <?php do_action('admin_footer', ''); ?>
diff --git a/wp-settings.php b/wp-settings.php
index dcf33c2f93..07661f4589 100644
--- a/wp-settings.php
+++ b/wp-settings.php
@@ -67,9 +67,10 @@ function timer_stop($display = 0, $precision = 3) { //if called like timer_stop(
 	$mtime = $mtime[1] + $mtime[0];
 	$timeend = $mtime;
 	$timetotal = $timeend-$timestart;
+	$r = number_format($timetotal, $precision);
 	if ( $display )
-		echo number_format($timetotal,$precision);
-	return $timetotal;
+		echo $r;
+	return $r;
 }
 timer_start();