diff --git a/include/wx/string.h b/include/wx/string.h
index 9377c541ca..603a75983b 100644
--- a/include/wx/string.h
+++ b/include/wx/string.h
@@ -48,14 +48,7 @@
 // notice that this optimization is well worth using even in debug builds as it
 // changes asymptotic complexity of algorithms using indices to iterate over
 // wxString back to expected linear from quadratic
-//
-// also notice that wxTLS_TYPE() (__declspec(thread) in this case) is unsafe to
-// use in DLL build under pre-Vista Windows so we disable this code for now, if
-// anybody really needs to use UTF-8 build under Windows with this optimization
-// it would have to be re-tested and probably corrected
-// CS: under OSX release builds the string destructor/cache cleanup sometimes
-// crashes, disable until we find the true reason or a better workaround
-#if wxUSE_UNICODE_UTF8 && !defined(__WINDOWS__) && !defined(__WXOSX__)
+#if wxUSE_UNICODE_UTF8
     #define wxUSE_STRING_POS_CACHE 1
 #else
     #define wxUSE_STRING_POS_CACHE 0
@@ -445,8 +438,8 @@ private:
       unsigned lastUsed;
   };
 
-  static wxTLS_TYPE(Cache) ms_cache;
-  static Cache& GetCache() { return wxTLS_VALUE(ms_cache); }
+  static wxTHREAD_SPECIFIC_DECL Cache ms_cache;
+  static Cache& GetCache() { return ms_cache; }
 
   static Cache::Element *GetCacheBegin() { return GetCache().cached; }
   static Cache::Element *GetCacheEnd() { return GetCacheBegin() + Cache::SIZE; }
diff --git a/src/common/string.cpp b/src/common/string.cpp
index c7f9ceac60..743be57b2b 100644
--- a/src/common/string.cpp
+++ b/src/common/string.cpp
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ const size_t wxString::npos = (size_t) -1;
 
 #if wxUSE_STRING_POS_CACHE
 
-wxTLS_TYPE(wxString::Cache) wxString::ms_cache;
+wxTHREAD_SPECIFIC_DECL wxString::Cache wxString::ms_cache;
 
 // gdb seems to be unable to display thread-local variables correctly, at least
 // not my 6.4.98 version under amd64, so provide this debugging helper to do it
diff --git a/src/common/threadinfo.cpp b/src/common/threadinfo.cpp
index 17fc9d612a..af681cd47c 100644
--- a/src/common/threadinfo.cpp
+++ b/src/common/threadinfo.cpp
@@ -45,14 +45,14 @@ inline wxAllThreadInfos& GetAllThreadInfos()
 }
 
 // Pointer to the current thread's instance
-inline wxTLS_TYPE_REF(wxThreadSpecificInfo*) GetThisThreadInfo()
+inline wxThreadSpecificInfo*& GetThisThreadInfo()
 {
-    static wxTLS_TYPE(wxThreadSpecificInfo*) s_thisThreadInfo;
+    static wxTHREAD_SPECIFIC_DECL wxThreadSpecificInfo* s_thisThreadInfo;
 
     return s_thisThreadInfo;
 }
 
-#define wxTHIS_THREAD_INFO wxTLS_VALUE(GetThisThreadInfo())
+#define wxTHIS_THREAD_INFO GetThisThreadInfo()
 
 } // anonymous namespace
 
diff --git a/tests/benchmarks/tls.cpp b/tests/benchmarks/tls.cpp
index 75568a9f32..f946ffb654 100644
--- a/tests/benchmarks/tls.cpp
+++ b/tests/benchmarks/tls.cpp
@@ -175,8 +175,7 @@ BENCHMARK_FUNC(BoostTLS)
 
 BENCHMARK_FUNC(wxTLS)
 {
-    static wxTLS_TYPE(int) s_globalVar;
-    #define s_global wxTLS_VALUE(s_globalVar)
+    static wxTHREAD_SPECIFIC_DECL int s_global;
 
     for ( int n = 0; n < NUM_ITER; n++ )
     {
diff --git a/tests/thread/tls.cpp b/tests/thread/tls.cpp
index 0b66049dbb..9877e31c86 100644
--- a/tests/thread/tls.cpp
+++ b/tests/thread/tls.cpp
@@ -35,11 +35,8 @@ struct PerThreadData
     int number;
 };
 
-wxTLS_TYPE(PerThreadData) gs_threadDataVar;
-#define gs_threadData wxTLS_VALUE(gs_threadDataVar)
-
-wxTLS_TYPE(int) gs_threadIntVar;
-#define gs_threadInt wxTLS_VALUE(gs_threadIntVar)
+wxTHREAD_SPECIFIC_DECL PerThreadData gs_threadData;
+wxTHREAD_SPECIFIC_DECL int gs_threadInt;
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // test thread