diff --git a/indra/newview/app_settings/settings.xml b/indra/newview/app_settings/settings.xml
index 1bf773bb9e..318a18912a 100644
--- a/indra/newview/app_settings/settings.xml
+++ b/indra/newview/app_settings/settings.xml
@@ -4040,17 +4040,6 @@
       <key>Value</key>
       <integer>305</integer>
     </map>
-    <key>HelpUseLocal</key>
-    <map>
-      <key>Comment</key>
-      <string>If set, always use this for help: skins/default/html/[LANGUAGE]/help-offline/index.html</string>
-      <key>Persist</key>
-      <integer>0</integer>
-      <key>Type</key>
-      <string>Boolean</string>
-      <key>Value</key>
-      <integer>0</integer>
-    </map>
     <key>HelpURLFormat</key>
     <map>
       <key>Comment</key>
diff --git a/indra/newview/llfloaterhelpbrowser.cpp b/indra/newview/llfloaterhelpbrowser.cpp
index fd9c37ae73..4cb632bd6a 100644
--- a/indra/newview/llfloaterhelpbrowser.cpp
+++ b/indra/newview/llfloaterhelpbrowser.cpp
@@ -77,15 +77,7 @@ void LLFloaterHelpBrowser::onOpen(const LLSD& key)
 	gSavedSettings.setBOOL("HelpFloaterOpen", TRUE);
 
 	std::string topic = key.asString();
-
-	if (topic == "__local")
-	{
-		mBrowser->navigateToLocalPage( "help-offline" , "index.html" );
-	}
-	else
-	{
-		mBrowser->navigateTo(LLViewerHelp::instance().getURL(topic));
-	}
+	mBrowser->navigateTo(LLViewerHelp::instance().getURL(topic));
 }
 
 //virtual
diff --git a/indra/newview/llstartup.cpp b/indra/newview/llstartup.cpp
index 218c35029e..5bfdbf89e9 100644
--- a/indra/newview/llstartup.cpp
+++ b/indra/newview/llstartup.cpp
@@ -3281,11 +3281,8 @@ bool process_login_success_response()
 	{
 		// replace the default help URL format
 		gSavedSettings.setString("HelpURLFormat",text);
-		
-		// don't fall back to Standalone's pre-connection static help
-		gSavedSettings.setBOOL("HelpUseLocal", false);
 	}
-			
+
 	std::string home_location = response["home"];
 	if(!home_location.empty())
 	{
diff --git a/indra/newview/llviewerhelp.cpp b/indra/newview/llviewerhelp.cpp
index a8a918f259..04c2e27c9d 100644
--- a/indra/newview/llviewerhelp.cpp
+++ b/indra/newview/llviewerhelp.cpp
@@ -71,12 +71,6 @@ LLHelpHandler gHelpHandler;
 
 std::string LLViewerHelp::getURL(const std::string &topic)
 {
-	// allow overriding the help server with a local help file
-	if( gSavedSettings.getBOOL("HelpUseLocal") )
-	{
-		return "__local";
-	}
-
 	// if the help topic is empty, use the default topic
 	std::string help_topic = topic;
 	if (help_topic.empty())
diff --git a/indra/newview/viewer_manifest.py b/indra/newview/viewer_manifest.py
index e754c26733..4f1b58dfcb 100644
--- a/indra/newview/viewer_manifest.py
+++ b/indra/newview/viewer_manifest.py
@@ -28,7 +28,10 @@ $/LicenseInfo$
 """
 import sys
 import os.path
+import errno
+import glob
 import re
+import shutil
 import tarfile
 import time
 import random
@@ -136,6 +139,30 @@ class ViewerManifest(LLManifest):
                             self.path("*/*/*.html")
                             self.path("*/*/*.gif")
                             self.end_prefix("*/html")
+
+                    # The claim is that we never use local html files any
+                    # longer. But rather than commenting out the "*/html"
+                    # block above, let's rename every html subdirectory we
+                    # copied as html.old. That way, if we're wrong, a user
+                    # actually does have the relevant files; s/he just needs
+                    # to rename every html.old directory back to html to
+                    # recover them. (Possibly I could accomplish the rename
+                    # with clever use of self.prefix(), but the leading "*"
+                    # perplexes me.)
+                    for htmldir in glob.glob(os.path.join(self.get_dst_prefix(), "*", "html")):
+                        htmlold = htmldir + ".old"
+                        print "Renaming %r => %r" % (htmldir, os.path.basename(htmlold))
+                        try:
+                            os.rename(htmldir, htmlold)
+                        except OSError, err:
+                            if err.errno != errno.ENOTEMPTY:
+                                raise
+                            # If we already have a directory by that name and
+                            # it's not empty, remove it and retry.
+                            shutil.rmtree(htmlold)
+                            # If it still blows up, let the exception propagate.
+                            os.rename(htmldir, htmlold)
+
                     self.end_prefix("skins")
 
             # local_assets dir (for pre-cached textures)