diff --git a/js/misc/util.js b/js/misc/util.js
index 3ba2b7d79..ee3c27f56 100644
--- a/js/misc/util.js
+++ b/js/misc/util.js
@@ -9,10 +9,12 @@ const Main = imports.ui.main;
 
 // http://daringfireball.net/2010/07/improved_regex_for_matching_urls
 const _balancedParens = '\\((?:[^\\s()<>]+|(?:\\(?:[^\\s()<>]+\\)))*\\)';
+const _leadingJunk = '[\\s`(\\[{\'\\"<\u00AB\u201C\u2018]';
 const _notTrailingJunk = '[^\\s`!()\\[\\]{};:\'\\".,<>?\u00AB\u00BB\u201C\u201D\u2018\u2019]';
 
 const _urlRegexp = new RegExp(
-    '\\b(' +
+    '(^|' + _leadingJunk + ')' +
+    '(' +
         '(?:' +
             '[a-z][\\w-]+://' +                   // scheme://
             '|' +
@@ -43,7 +45,7 @@ const _urlRegexp = new RegExp(
 function findUrls(str) {
     let res = [], match;
     while ((match = _urlRegexp.exec(str)))
-        res.push({ url: match[0], pos: match.index });
+        res.push({ url: match[2], pos: match.index + match[1].length });
     return res;
 }