diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index ef38bdbdf..4dc7b4df4 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2002-06-08  Havoc Pennington  <hp@pobox.com>
+
+	* src/window.c (update_struts): only invalidate things if the
+	struts actually change, since the panel likes to set them over and
+	over. May fix the infinite loop that caused 100% CPU usage.
+
 2002-06-07  Havoc Pennington  <hp@redhat.com>
 
 	* src/screen.c (meta_screen_new): use XineramaIsActive() not
diff --git a/src/window.c b/src/window.c
index d0b84f990..ca26a2598 100644
--- a/src/window.c
+++ b/src/window.c
@@ -4653,9 +4653,22 @@ update_struts (MetaWindow *window)
 {
   gulong *struts = NULL;
   int nitems;
-
+  gboolean old_has_struts;
+  gboolean old_do_not_cover;
+  int old_left;
+  int old_right;
+  int old_top;
+  int old_bottom;
+  
   meta_verbose ("Updating struts for %s\n", window->desc);
   
+  old_has_struts = window->has_struts;
+  old_do_not_cover = window->do_not_cover;
+  old_left = window->left_strut;
+  old_right = window->right_strut;
+  old_top = window->top_strut;
+  old_bottom = window->bottom_strut;  
+  
   window->has_struts = FALSE;
   window->do_not_cover = FALSE;
   window->left_strut = 0;
@@ -4727,10 +4740,23 @@ update_struts (MetaWindow *window)
         }
     }
 
-  meta_topic (META_DEBUG_WORKAREA,
-              "Invalidating work areas of window %s due to struts update\n",
-              window->desc);
-  invalidate_work_areas (window);
+  if (old_has_struts != window->has_struts ||
+      old_do_not_cover != window->do_not_cover ||
+      old_left != window->left_strut ||
+      old_right != window->right_strut ||
+      old_top != window->top_strut ||
+      old_bottom != window->bottom_strut)
+    {  
+      meta_topic (META_DEBUG_WORKAREA,
+                  "Invalidating work areas of window %s due to struts update\n",
+                  window->desc);
+      invalidate_work_areas (window);
+    }
+  else
+    {
+      meta_topic (META_DEBUG_WORKAREA,
+                  "Struts on %s were unchanged\n", window->desc);
+    }
 }
 
 static void