diff --git a/applets/kicker/plugin/recentusagemodel.cpp b/applets/kicker/plugin/recentusagemodel.cpp
--- a/applets/kicker/plugin/recentusagemodel.cpp
+++ b/applets/kicker/plugin/recentusagemodel.cpp
@@ -243,15 +243,41 @@
         url.setScheme(QStringLiteral("file"));
     }
 
-    const KFileItem fileItem(url);
+    // Save original scheme
+    QString savedScheme = url.scheme();
+
+    // Do not call the KFileItem constructor with a scheme to
+    // avoid initializing with scheme 'file', what would result
+    // in being a local file and calling QT_LSTAT on it in
+    // KFileItemPrivate::init(). The QT_LSTAT doesn't
+    // return any useful information for our purposes here.
+    url.setScheme(QString());
+    KFileItem fileItem(url);
+
+    // now set original scheme - this will not call QT_LSTAT
+    url.setScheme(savedScheme);
+    fileItem.setUrl(url);
 
     if (!url.isValid() || !(fileItem.isFile() || fileItem.isDir())) {
         return QVariant();
     }
 
     if (role == Qt::DisplayRole) {
         return fileItem.text();
     } else if (role == Qt::DecorationRole) {
+        // fileItem.iconName() would result in calling QT_LSTAT twice more
+        // (via KFileItem::currentMimeType()
+        // --> QMimeDatabase::mimeTypeForUrl() (url.isLocalFile() if scheme == "file")
+        // --> QMimeDatabase::mimeTypeForFile() with MatchMode mode = MatchDefault
+        // --> QFileInfo ...
+        // --> QMimeDatabase::mimeTypeForFile())
+        // and reading the first 16k in QMimeDatabasePrivate::mimeTypeForFileNameAndData()
+        // if scheme is 'file', so empty it.
+        // We want MatchMode mode = MatchExtension
+        if (url.scheme() == "file") {
+            url.setScheme(QString());
+            fileItem.setUrl(url);
+        }
         return QIcon::fromTheme(fileItem.iconName(), QIcon::fromTheme(QStringLiteral("unknown")));
     } else if (role == Kicker::GroupRole) {
         return i18n("Documents");