diff --git a/src/emu/clifront.c b/src/emu/clifront.c
index 8bfbccf1fc7..3334d5181e8 100644
--- a/src/emu/clifront.c
+++ b/src/emu/clifront.c
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ int cli_frontend::execute(int argc, char **argv)
 
 			machine_config config(*system, m_options);
 			software_list_device_iterator iter(config.root_device());
-			if (iter.first() == NULL)
+			if (iter.count() == 0)
 				throw emu_fatalerror(MAMERR_FATALERROR, "Error: unknown option: %s\n", m_options.software_name());
 
 			bool found = false;
@@ -550,7 +550,7 @@ void cli_frontend::listsamples(const char *gamename)
 	{
 		// see if we have samples
 		samples_device_iterator iter(drivlist.config().root_device());
-		if (iter.first() == NULL)
+		if (iter.count() == 0)
 			continue;
 
 		// print a header
diff --git a/src/emu/ui/devctrl.h b/src/emu/ui/devctrl.h
index f293b02c09e..5cc246cb567 100644
--- a/src/emu/ui/devctrl.h
+++ b/src/emu/ui/devctrl.h
@@ -46,9 +46,8 @@ ui_menu_device_control<_DeviceType>::ui_menu_device_control(running_machine &mac
 	: ui_menu(machine, container)
 {
 	iterator iter(machine.root_device());
+	m_count = iter.count();
 	m_device = device ? device : iter.first();
-	iterator iter_cnt(machine.root_device());
-	m_count = iter_cnt.count();
 }