diff --git a/cmd/root_test.go b/cmd/root_test.go
index eba07cdf8..aa58aeba5 100644
--- a/cmd/root_test.go
+++ b/cmd/root_test.go
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ import (
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
 )
 
+var _ = pprof.NewProfile("nd-profiler-test")
+
 var _ = Describe("profilerHandler", func() {
 	// Mirrors how server.MountRouter mounts the handler.
 	mount := func() http.Handler {
@@ -23,9 +25,6 @@ var _ = Describe("profilerHandler", func() {
 
 	BeforeEach(func() {
 		DeferCleanup(configtest.SetupConfig())
-		if pprof.Lookup("nd-profiler-test") == nil {
-			pprof.NewProfile("nd-profiler-test")
-		}
 	})
 
 	DescribeTable("serves a named profile",
@@ -33,7 +32,7 @@ var _ = Describe("profilerHandler", func() {
 			conf.Server.BasePath = basePath
 
 			w := httptest.NewRecorder()
-			target := path.Join(basePath, "/debug/pprof/nd-profiler-test") + "?debug=1"
+			target := basePath + "/debug/pprof/nd-profiler-test?debug=1"
 			mount().ServeHTTP(w, httptest.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, target, nil))
 
 			Expect(w.Code).To(Equal(http.StatusOK))
diff --git a/plugins/host_cache_test.go b/plugins/host_cache_test.go
index e3dbf6946..5e91b04ec 100644
--- a/plugins/host_cache_test.go
+++ b/plugins/host_cache_test.go
@@ -603,37 +603,33 @@ var _ = Describe("CacheService Integration", Ordered, func() {
 })
 
 var _ = Describe("newCacheService", func() {
-	// Background goroutines wind down late, so poll for two consecutive equal samples.
-	settleGoroutines := func() int {
-		prev := -1
-		for range 100 {
+	// The suite above leaves goroutines winding down, so settle before sampling.
+	settledBaseline := func() int {
+		var n int
+		Eventually(func() int {
 			runtime.GC()
-			n := runtime.NumGoroutine()
-			if n == prev {
-				return n
-			}
-			prev = n
-			time.Sleep(10 * time.Millisecond)
-		}
-		return prev
+			prev := n
+			n = runtime.NumGoroutine()
+			return n - prev
+		}).WithTimeout(10 * time.Second).WithPolling(20 * time.Millisecond).Should(BeZero())
+		return n
 	}
 
 	It("stops the janitor goroutine once the service is unreachable", func() {
-		const numServices = 20
+		const numServices = 5
+		baseline := settledBaseline()
 
-		baseline := settleGoroutines()
+		func() {
+			services := make([]*cacheServiceImpl, 0, numServices)
+			for i := range numServices {
+				services = append(services, newCacheService(fmt.Sprintf("plugin_%d", i)))
+			}
+			Expect(runtime.NumGoroutine()).To(BeNumerically(">=", baseline+numServices),
+				"expected one janitor goroutine per cache service")
+		}()
 
-		services := make([]*cacheServiceImpl, 0, numServices)
-		for i := range numServices {
-			services = append(services, newCacheService(fmt.Sprintf("plugin_%d", i)))
-		}
-		Expect(runtime.NumGoroutine()).To(BeNumerically(">=", baseline+numServices),
-			"expected one janitor goroutine per cache service")
-
-		services = nil
-		Expect(services).To(BeNil())
-
-		Expect(settleGoroutines()).To(BeNumerically("<", baseline+numServices),
-			"janitor goroutines leaked after the services became unreachable")
+		Eventually(func() int { runtime.GC(); return runtime.NumGoroutine() }).
+			WithTimeout(10*time.Second).WithPolling(20*time.Millisecond).
+			Should(BeNumerically("<=", baseline), "janitor goroutines leaked")
 	})
 })
diff --git a/scanner/scanner_benchmark_test.go b/scanner/scanner_benchmark_test.go
index 97ade09a7..91381aa0a 100644
--- a/scanner/scanner_benchmark_test.go
+++ b/scanner/scanner_benchmark_test.go
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ func BenchmarkScan(b *testing.B) {
 		goleak.IgnoreTopFunction("github.com/rjeczalik/notify.(*recursiveTree).dispatch"),
 	)
 
-	// Benchmarks run without the suite's TestMain, so the config defaults must be loaded here
+	// go test -bench runs with -run=XXX, so TestScanner never loads the test config
 	tests.Init(b, false)
 
 	tmpDir := b.TempDir()
diff --git a/server/backgrounds/handler_test.go b/server/backgrounds/handler_test.go
index 31197f895..e8c77380f 100644
--- a/server/backgrounds/handler_test.go
+++ b/server/backgrounds/handler_test.go
@@ -10,10 +10,6 @@ import (
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
 )
 
-type testItem string
-
-func (i testItem) Key() string { return string(i) }
-
 type recordingBody struct {
 	io.Reader
 	closed *bool
@@ -53,7 +49,7 @@ var _ = Describe("serveImage", func() {
 	It("closes the response body when the hosting service returns an error", func() {
 		stubStatus(http.StatusNotFound)
 
-		_, err := (&Handler{}).serveImage(context.Background(), testItem("some-image.webp"))
+		_, err := (&Handler{}).serveImage(context.Background(), cacheKey("some-image.webp"))
 
 		Expect(err).To(MatchError(ContainSubstring("unexpected status code")))
 		Expect(closed).To(BeTrue(), "response body was left open")
@@ -62,7 +58,7 @@ var _ = Describe("serveImage", func() {
 	It("hands the still-open body to the caller on success", func() {
 		stubStatus(http.StatusOK)
 
-		reader, err := (&Handler{}).serveImage(context.Background(), testItem("some-image.webp"))
+		reader, err := (&Handler{}).serveImage(context.Background(), cacheKey("some-image.webp"))
 
 		Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
 		Expect(closed).To(BeFalse(), "response body must stay open for the CachedStream wrapper")