diff --git a/Lib/test/test_socket.py b/Lib/test/test_socket.py
index e0aa58c..e773eab 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_socket.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_socket.py
@@ -906,7 +906,10 @@
         tests.append(BasicSocketPairTest)
     if sys.platform == 'linux2':
         tests.append(TestLinuxAbstractNamespace)
+
+    thread_info = test_support.threading_setup()
     test_support.run_unittest(*tests)
+    test_support.threading_cleanup(*thread_info)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     test_main()
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_support.py b/Lib/test/test_support.py
index 4f89a86..2a74938 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_support.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_support.py
@@ -453,3 +453,26 @@
     if verbose:
         print 'doctest (%s) ... %d tests with zero failures' % (module.__name__, t)
     return f, t
+
+#=======================================================================
+# Threading support to prevent reporting refleaks when running regrtest.py -R
+
+def threading_setup():
+    import threading
+    return len(threading._active), len(threading._limbo)
+
+def threading_cleanup(num_active, num_limbo):
+    import threading
+    import time
+
+    _MAX_COUNT = 10
+    count = 0
+    while len(threading._active) != num_active and count < _MAX_COUNT:
+        count += 1
+        time.sleep(0.1)
+
+    count = 0
+    while len(threading._limbo) != num_limbo and count < _MAX_COUNT:
+        count += 1
+        time.sleep(0.1)
+
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_threadedtempfile.py b/Lib/test/test_threadedtempfile.py
index 459ba3a..974333b 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_threadedtempfile.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_threadedtempfile.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 
 import thread # If this fails, we can't test this module
 import threading
-from test.test_support import TestFailed
+from test.test_support import TestFailed, threading_setup, threading_cleanup
 import StringIO
 from traceback import print_exc
 import tempfile
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 
 def test_main():
     threads = []
+    thread_info = threading_setup()
 
     print "Creating"
     for i in range(NUM_THREADS):
@@ -72,6 +73,7 @@
     if errors:
         raise TestFailed(msg)
 
+    threading_cleanup(*thread_info)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     import sys, getopt