diff --git a/source/de/anomic/search/ReferenceOrder.java b/source/de/anomic/search/ReferenceOrder.java
index 731533f37..e9964b0bc 100644
--- a/source/de/anomic/search/ReferenceOrder.java
+++ b/source/de/anomic/search/ReferenceOrder.java
@@ -173,8 +173,8 @@ public class ReferenceOrder {
            + ((flags.get(Condenser.flag_cat_hasaudio))     ? 255 << ranking.coeff_cathasaudio        : 0)
            + ((flags.get(Condenser.flag_cat_hasvideo))     ? 255 << ranking.coeff_cathasvideo        : 0)
            + ((flags.get(Condenser.flag_cat_hasapp))       ? 255 << ranking.coeff_cathasapp          : 0)
-           + ((patchUK(t.language).equals(this.language))        ? 255 << ranking.coeff_language           : 0)
-           + ((DigestURI.probablyRootURL(t.metadataHash().getBytes()))             ?  15 << ranking.coeff_urllength          : 0);
+           + ((patchUK(t.language).equals(this.language))  ? 255 << ranking.coeff_language           : 0)
+           + ((DigestURI.probablyRootURL(t.metadataHash())) ?  15 << ranking.coeff_urllength          : 0);
         //if (searchWords != null) r += (yacyURL.probablyWordURL(t.urlHash(), searchWords) != null) ? 256 << ranking.coeff_appurl : 0;
 
         return Long.MAX_VALUE - r; // returns a reversed number: the lower the number the better the ranking. This is used for simple sorting with a TreeMap
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/kelondro/data/meta/DigestURI.java b/source/net/yacy/kelondro/data/meta/DigestURI.java
index 6c8c5fcbb..3cf3f9ce7 100644
--- a/source/net/yacy/kelondro/data/meta/DigestURI.java
+++ b/source/net/yacy/kelondro/data/meta/DigestURI.java
@@ -893,8 +893,14 @@ public class DigestURI implements Serializable {
     private static final char rootURLFlag0 = subdomPortPath("", 80, "");
     private static final char rootURLFlag1 = subdomPortPath("www", 80, "");
 
+    public static final boolean probablyRootURL(String urlHash) {
+    	char c = urlHash.charAt(5);
+        return c == rootURLFlag0 || c == rootURLFlag1;
+    }
+
     public static final boolean probablyRootURL(final byte[] urlHash) {
-        return (urlHash[5] == rootURLFlag0) || (urlHash[5] == rootURLFlag1);
+    	char c = (char) urlHash[5];
+        return c == rootURLFlag0 || c == rootURLFlag1;
     }
 
     private static final String hosthash5(final String protocol, final String host, final int port) {
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/kelondro/data/meta/URIMetadataRow.java b/source/net/yacy/kelondro/data/meta/URIMetadataRow.java
index 4408c474e..fe61a9de4 100644
--- a/source/net/yacy/kelondro/data/meta/URIMetadataRow.java
+++ b/source/net/yacy/kelondro/data/meta/URIMetadataRow.java
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@ public class URIMetadataRow implements URIMetadata {
         // avoid double computation of metadata elements
         if (this.comp != null) return this.comp;
         // parse elements from comp string;
-        final Iterator<String> cl = FileUtils.strings(this.entry.getCol("comp", null));
+        final Iterator<String> cl = FileUtils.strings(this.entry.getColBytes(col_comp, true));
         this.comp = new Components(
                     (cl.hasNext()) ? cl.next() : "",
                     hash(),