diff --git a/sugar/activity/registry.py b/sugar/activity/registry.py
index 2f6b567e..8fdae2f5 100644
--- a/sugar/activity/registry.py
+++ b/sugar/activity/registry.py
@@ -50,10 +50,11 @@ class ActivityRegistry(gobject.GObject):
 
         bus = dbus.SessionBus()
 
-        # FIXME: Is follow_name_owner_changes what we really want?
-        #        It speeds up the start time by about 2 seconds
-        #        but is really a side effect of starting a proxy 
-        #        in this state (i.e. we don't block in the constructor)
+        # NOTE: We need to follow_name_owner_changes here
+        #       because we can not connect to a signal unless 
+        #       we follow the changes or we start the service
+        #       before we connect.  Starting the service here
+        #       causes a major bottleneck during startup
         bus_object = bus.get_object(_ACTIVITY_REGISTRY_SERVICE_NAME,
                                     _ACTIVITY_REGISTRY_PATH,
                                     follow_name_owner_changes = True)
diff --git a/sugar/clipboard/clipboardservice.py b/sugar/clipboard/clipboardservice.py
index 0e357fef..d975330d 100644
--- a/sugar/clipboard/clipboardservice.py
+++ b/sugar/clipboard/clipboardservice.py
@@ -82,7 +82,14 @@ class ClipboardService(gobject.GObject):
         """Connect dbus signals to our GObject signal generating callbacks"""
         bus = dbus.SessionBus()
         if not self._connected:
-            proxy_obj = bus.get_object(DBUS_SERVICE, DBUS_PATH)
+            # NOTE: We need to follow_name_owner_changes here
+            #       because we can not connect to a signal unless 
+            #       we follow the changes or we start the service
+            #       before we connect.  Starting the service here
+            #       causes a major bottleneck during startup
+            proxy_obj = bus.get_object(DBUS_SERVICE, 
+                                       DBUS_PATH,
+                                       follow_name_owner_changes=True)
             self._dbus_service = dbus.Interface(proxy_obj, DBUS_SERVICE)
             self._dbus_service.connect_to_signal('object_added',
                                                  self._object_added_cb)
diff --git a/sugar/presence/presenceservice.py b/sugar/presence/presenceservice.py
index 4a92dd30..9e39a35b 100644
--- a/sugar/presence/presenceservice.py
+++ b/sugar/presence/presenceservice.py
@@ -108,8 +108,15 @@ class PresenceService(gobject.GObject):
         """
         if not self._ps_:
             try:
+                # NOTE: We need to follow_name_owner_changes here
+                #       because we can not connect to a signal unless 
+                #       we follow the changes or we start the service
+                #       before we connect.  Starting the service here
+                #       causes a major bottleneck during startup
                 ps = dbus.Interface(
-                    self._bus.get_object(DBUS_SERVICE,DBUS_PATH), 
+                    self._bus.get_object(DBUS_SERVICE,
+                                         DBUS_PATH,
+                                         follow_name_owner_changes=True), 
                     DBUS_INTERFACE
                 )
             except dbus.exceptions.DBusException, err: