diff --git a/utils/qwknet/qwkscan.c b/utils/qwknet/qwkscan.c
index ef68aa7..0927d2e 100644
--- a/utils/qwknet/qwkscan.c
+++ b/utils/qwknet/qwkscan.c
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ int export_messages(int baseno, char *basefilename, int qwkidx) {
                     
                     msgbuf = (char *)malloc(lenbytes);
 
-                    memset(msgbuf, '\0', lenbytes);
+                    memset(msgbuf, ' ', lenbytes);
 
                     JAM_ReadMsgText(jb, jmh.TxtOffset, jmh.TxtLen, msgbuf);
 
@@ -238,10 +238,10 @@ int export_messages(int baseno, char *basefilename, int qwkidx) {
                         msgptr++;
                     }
 
-                    msgptr = &msgbuf[lenbytes-1];
-                    while (*msgptr == '\0') {
-                        *msgptr = ' ';
-                        msgptr--;
+                    for (z=0;z<lenbytes;z++) {
+                        if (msgbuf[z] == '\0') {
+                            msgbuf[z] = ' ';
+                        }
                     }
 
                     snprintf(buffer, 7, "%d", len);