diff --git a/include/wx/string.h b/include/wx/string.h
index ce69cb8026..91f25b154e 100644
--- a/include/wx/string.h
+++ b/include/wx/string.h
@@ -1351,7 +1351,7 @@ public:
     const wxWX2MBbuf mbc_str() const { return mb_str(*wxConvCurrent); }
 
 #if wxUSE_UNICODE_WCHAR
-    const wxChar* wc_str() const { return wx_str(); }
+    const wchar_t* wc_str() const { return wx_str(); }
 #elif wxUSE_UNICODE_UTF8
     const wxWCharBuffer wc_str() const;
 #endif
@@ -1369,7 +1369,7 @@ public:
     const wxChar* mb_str() const { return wx_str(); }
 
     // for compatibility with wxUSE_UNICODE version
-    const wxChar* mb_str(const wxMBConv& WXUNUSED(conv)) const { return wx_str(); }
+    const char* mb_str(const wxMBConv& WXUNUSED(conv)) const { return wx_str(); }
 
     const wxWX2MBbuf mbc_str() const { return mb_str(); }
 
@@ -1379,6 +1379,15 @@ public:
     const wxCharBuffer fn_str() const { return wxConvFile.cWC2WX( wc_str( wxConvLibc ) ); }
 #endif // Unicode/ANSI
 
+#if wxUSE_UNICODE_UTF8
+    const wxWCharBuffer t_str() const { return wc_str(); }
+#elif wxUSE_UNICODE_WCHAR
+    const wchar_t* t_str() const { return wx_str(); }
+#else
+    const char* t_str() const { return wx_str(); }
+#endif 
+
+
   // overloaded assignment
     // from another wxString
   wxString& operator=(const wxString& stringSrc)
diff --git a/src/common/filefn.cpp b/src/common/filefn.cpp
index f5389f2991..b9053ba8ac 100644
--- a/src/common/filefn.cpp
+++ b/src/common/filefn.cpp
@@ -1851,7 +1851,7 @@ static bool wxCheckWin32Permission(const wxString& path, DWORD access)
 
     HANDLE h = ::CreateFile
                  (
-                    path.c_str(),
+                    path.t_str(),
                     access,
                     FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE | FILE_SHARE_DELETE,
                     NULL,