diff --git a/docs/NEWS b/docs/NEWS
index 5ce11a3d..08bc23cc 100644
--- a/docs/NEWS
+++ b/docs/NEWS
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ Version 1.7.3 ()
     * Trackback to https:// style URLs will use proper port 443 instead
       of 80.
 
+    * Disabled htmlarea spellchecker
+    
 Version 1.7.2 (July 26th 2013)
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/htmlarea/plugins/SpellChecker/spell-check-savedicts.php b/htmlarea/plugins/SpellChecker/spell-check-savedicts.php
index cb2d2815..dac3f00a 100755
--- a/htmlarea/plugins/SpellChecker/spell-check-savedicts.php
+++ b/htmlarea/plugins/SpellChecker/spell-check-savedicts.php
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 <?php
+die('disabled in s9y');
   require_once(dirname(__FILE__) . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'aspell_setup.php');