diff --git a/src/app/main.cpp b/src/app/main.cpp
index 540b5125613..f92930d0aa4 100644
--- a/src/app/main.cpp
+++ b/src/app/main.cpp
@@ -619,7 +619,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     // Re-setup install settings for real
     setupInstallSettings(options.installSettingsPath);
     Utils::QtcSettings *settings = createUserSettings();
-    Utils::QtcSettings *globalSettings
+    Utils::QtcSettings *installSettings
         = new Utils::QtcSettings(QSettings::IniFormat,
                                  QSettings::SystemScope,
                                  QLatin1String(Core::Constants::IDE_SETTINGSVARIANT_STR),
@@ -652,10 +652,10 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
     PluginManager pluginManager;
     PluginManager::setPluginIID(QLatin1String("org.qt-project.Qt.QtCreatorPlugin"));
-    PluginManager::setGlobalSettings(globalSettings);
+    PluginManager::setInstallSettings(installSettings);
     PluginManager::setSettings(settings);
 
-    Utils::BaseAspect::setGlobalSettings(globalSettings);
+    Utils::BaseAspect::setSettings(settings);
 
     using namespace Core;
     Utils::AppInfo info;
diff --git a/src/libs/extensionsystem/pluginmanager.cpp b/src/libs/extensionsystem/pluginmanager.cpp
index 2da7065314d..c0395115441 100644
--- a/src/libs/extensionsystem/pluginmanager.cpp
+++ b/src/libs/extensionsystem/pluginmanager.cpp
@@ -488,7 +488,7 @@ void PluginManager::setSettings(QtcSettings *settings)
     default disabled plugins.
     Needs to be set before the plugin search path is set with setPluginPaths().
 */
-void PluginManager::setGlobalSettings(QtcSettings *settings)
+void PluginManager::setInstallSettings(QtcSettings *settings)
 {
     d->setGlobalSettings(settings);
 }
diff --git a/src/libs/extensionsystem/pluginmanager.h b/src/libs/extensionsystem/pluginmanager.h
index ecd0ee70b73..84e3bbc55be 100644
--- a/src/libs/extensionsystem/pluginmanager.h
+++ b/src/libs/extensionsystem/pluginmanager.h
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ public:
     // Settings
     static void setSettings(Utils::QtcSettings *settings);
     static Utils::QtcSettings *settings();
-    static void setGlobalSettings(Utils::QtcSettings *settings);
+    static void setInstallSettings(Utils::QtcSettings *settings);
     static Utils::QtcSettings *globalSettings();
     static void writeSettings();
 
diff --git a/src/libs/utils/aspects.cpp b/src/libs/utils/aspects.cpp
index 5a1e214c24f..e4035ca86b5 100644
--- a/src/libs/utils/aspects.cpp
+++ b/src/libs/utils/aspects.cpp
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ namespace Utils {
 
 static QSettings *theSettings = nullptr;
 
-void BaseAspect::setGlobalSettings(QSettings *settings)
+void BaseAspect::setSettings(QSettings *settings)
 {
     theSettings = settings;
 }
diff --git a/src/libs/utils/aspects.h b/src/libs/utils/aspects.h
index cb596949de5..7c911a0ea58 100644
--- a/src/libs/utils/aspects.h
+++ b/src/libs/utils/aspects.h
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ public:
 
     Data::Ptr extractData() const;
 
-    static void setGlobalSettings(QSettings *settings);
+    static void setSettings(QSettings *settings);
     static QSettings *settings();
 
 signals: