diff --git a/comicapi/comicarchive.py b/comicapi/comicarchive.py
index 022a9ac..ebd335c 100644
--- a/comicapi/comicarchive.py
+++ b/comicapi/comicarchive.py
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ class SevenZipArchiver:
         try:
             self.rebuild_zip_file([archive_file])
         except:
+            logger.exception("Failed to remove %s from 7zip archive", archive_file)
             return False
         else:
             return True
@@ -110,6 +111,7 @@ class SevenZipArchiver:
                 zf.writestr(data, archive_file)
             return True
         except:
+            logger.exception("Writing zip file failed")
             return False
 
     def get_filename_list(self):
@@ -194,6 +196,7 @@ class ZipArchiver:
         try:
             self.rebuild_zip_file([archive_file])
         except:
+            logger.exception("Failed to remove %s from zip archive", archive_file)
             return False
         else:
             return True
@@ -306,7 +309,7 @@ class ZipArchiver:
                 else:
                     raise Exception("Failed to write comment to zip file!")
         except Exception:
-            logger.exception()
+            logger.exception("Writing comment to %s failed", filename)
             return False
         else:
             return True
@@ -342,7 +345,7 @@ class RarArchiver:
         self.rar_exe_path = rar_exe_path
 
         if RarArchiver.devnull is None:
-            RarArchiver.devnull = open(os.devnull, "w")
+            RarArchiver.devnull = open(os.devnull, "bw")
 
         # windows only, keeps the cmd.exe from popping up
         if platform.system() == "Windows":
@@ -360,9 +363,8 @@ class RarArchiver:
             try:
                 # write comment to temp file
                 tmp_fd, tmp_name = tempfile.mkstemp()
-                f = os.fdopen(tmp_fd, "w+")
-                f.write(comment)
-                f.close()
+                with os.fdopen(tmp_fd, "wb") as f:
+                    f.write(comment.encode("utf-8"))
 
                 working_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(self.path))
 
@@ -441,7 +443,7 @@ class RarArchiver:
 
                 # TODO: will this break if 'archive_file' is in a subfolder. i.e. "foo/bar.txt"
                 # will need to create the subfolder above, I guess...
-                with open(tmp_file, "w") as f:
+                with open(tmp_file, "wb") as f:
                     f.write(data)
 
                 # use external program to write file to Rar archive
@@ -457,7 +459,9 @@ class RarArchiver:
                     time.sleep(1)
                 os.remove(tmp_file)
                 os.rmdir(tmp_folder)
-            except:
+            except Exception as e:
+                logger.info(str(e))
+                logger.exception("Failed write %s to rar archive", archive_file)
                 return False
             else:
                 return True
@@ -479,6 +483,7 @@ class RarArchiver:
                 if platform.system() == "Darwin":
                     time.sleep(1)
             except:
+                logger.exception("Failed to remove %s from rar archive", archive_file)
                 return False
             else:
                 return True
@@ -543,7 +548,6 @@ class FolderArchiver:
         try:
             with open(fname, "rb") as f:
                 data = f.read()
-                f.close()
         except IOError:
             logger.exception("Failed to read: %s", fname)
 
@@ -553,11 +557,10 @@ class FolderArchiver:
 
         fname = os.path.join(self.path, archive_file)
         try:
-            with open(fname, "w+") as f:
+            with open(fname, "wb") as f:
                 f.write(data)
-                f.close()
         except:
-            logger.exception("Failed to read: %s", fname)
+            logger.exception("Failed to write: %s", fname)
             return False
         else:
             return True
@@ -568,7 +571,7 @@ class FolderArchiver:
         try:
             os.remove(fname)
         except:
-            logger.exception("Failed to read: %s", fname)
+            logger.exception("Failed to remove: %s", fname)
             return False
         else:
             return True
@@ -976,7 +979,7 @@ class ComicArchive:
             if raw_cix == "":
                 raw_cix = None
             cix_string = ComicInfoXml().string_from_metadata(metadata, xml=raw_cix)
-            write_success = self.archiver.write_file(self.ci_xml_filename, cix_string)
+            write_success = self.archiver.write_file(self.ci_xml_filename, cix_string.encode("utf-8"))
             if write_success:
                 self.has__cix = True
                 self.cix_md = metadata
@@ -1088,8 +1091,7 @@ class ComicArchive:
                         data = self.archiver.read_file(n)
                     except Exception as e:
                         data = ""
-                        err_msg = f"Error reading in Comet XML for validation!: {e}"
-                        logger.warning(err_msg)
+                        logger.warning("Error reading in Comet XML for validation!: %s", e)
                     if CoMet().validate_string(data):
                         # since we found it, save it!
                         self.comet_filename = n
diff --git a/comicapi/comicbookinfo.py b/comicapi/comicbookinfo.py
index f24f896..2c8a645 100644
--- a/comicapi/comicbookinfo.py
+++ b/comicapi/comicbookinfo.py
@@ -119,5 +119,5 @@ class ComicBookInfo:
 
         cbi_container = self.create_json_dictionary(metadata)
 
-        with open(filename, "w") as f:
+        with open(filename, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
             f.write(json.dumps(cbi_container, indent=4))
diff --git a/comictaggerlib/comicvinecacher.py b/comictaggerlib/comicvinecacher.py
index 2106aad..950c3fe 100644
--- a/comictaggerlib/comicvinecacher.py
+++ b/comictaggerlib/comicvinecacher.py
@@ -59,11 +59,11 @@ class ComicVineCacher:
     def create_cache_db(self):
 
         # create the version file
-        with open(self.version_file, "w") as f:
+        with open(self.version_file, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
             f.write(ctversion.version)
 
         # this will wipe out any existing version
-        open(self.db_file, "w").close()
+        open(self.db_file, "wb").close()
 
         con = lite.connect(self.db_file)
 
diff --git a/comictaggerlib/imagefetcher.py b/comictaggerlib/imagefetcher.py
index a799ce7..93704d0 100644
--- a/comictaggerlib/imagefetcher.py
+++ b/comictaggerlib/imagefetcher.py
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ class ImageFetcher:
     def create_image_db(self):
 
         # this will wipe out any existing version
-        open(self.db_file, "w").close()
+        open(self.db_file, "wb").close()
 
         # wipe any existing image cache folder too
         if os.path.isdir(self.cache_folder):
diff --git a/comictaggerlib/logwindow.py b/comictaggerlib/logwindow.py
index eb24397..7270f50 100644
--- a/comictaggerlib/logwindow.py
+++ b/comictaggerlib/logwindow.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import logging
 from PyQt5 import QtCore, QtWidgets, uic
 
 from comictaggerlib.settings import ComicTaggerSettings
+from comictaggerlib.ui import qtutils
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -41,6 +42,9 @@ class LogWindow(QtWidgets.QDialog):
     def set_text(self, text):
         try:
             text = text.decode()
-        except:
+            self.textEdit.setPlainText(text)
+        except AttributeError:
             pass
-        self.textEdit.setPlainText(text)
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.exception("Displaying raw tags failed")
+            qtutils.qt_error("Displaying raw tags failed:", e)
diff --git a/comictaggerlib/main.py b/comictaggerlib/main.py
index f9b632a..422ac94 100755
--- a/comictaggerlib/main.py
+++ b/comictaggerlib/main.py
@@ -37,8 +37,52 @@ logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 
 try:
     qt_available = True
-    from PyQt5 import QtGui, QtWidgets
+    from PyQt5 import QtCore, QtGui, QtWidgets
 
+    def show_exception_box(log_msg):
+        """Checks if a QApplication instance is available and shows a messagebox with the exception message.
+        If unavailable (non-console application), log an additional notice.
+        """
+        if QtWidgets.QApplication.instance() is not None:
+            errorbox = QtWidgets.QMessageBox()
+            errorbox.setText("Oops. An unexpected error occured:\n{0}".format(log_msg))
+            errorbox.exec_()
+            QtWidgets.QApplication.exit(1)
+        else:
+            logger.debug("No QApplication instance available.")
+
+    class UncaughtHook(QtCore.QObject):
+        _exception_caught = QtCore.pyqtSignal(object)
+
+        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+            super(UncaughtHook, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+            # this registers the exception_hook() function as hook with the Python interpreter
+            sys.excepthook = self.exception_hook
+
+            # connect signal to execute the message box function always on main thread
+            self._exception_caught.connect(show_exception_box)
+
+        def exception_hook(self, exc_type, exc_value, exc_traceback):
+            """Function handling uncaught exceptions.
+            It is triggered each time an uncaught exception occurs.
+            """
+            if issubclass(exc_type, KeyboardInterrupt):
+                # ignore keyboard interrupt to support console applications
+                sys.__excepthook__(exc_type, exc_value, exc_traceback)
+            else:
+                exc_info = (exc_type, exc_value, exc_traceback)
+                log_msg = "\n".join(
+                    ["".join(traceback.format_tb(exc_traceback)), "{0}: {1}".format(exc_type.__name__, exc_value)]
+                )
+                logger.critical(
+                    "Uncaught exception: %s", "{0}: {1}".format(exc_type.__name__, exc_value), exc_info=exc_info
+                )
+
+                # trigger message box show
+                self._exception_caught.emit(log_msg)
+
+    qt_exception_hook = UncaughtHook()
     from comictaggerlib.taggerwindow import TaggerWindow
 except ImportError as e:
     logging.debug(e)
@@ -106,7 +150,7 @@ def ctmain():
         try:
             cli.cli_mode(opts, SETTINGS)
         except:
-            logger.exception()
+            logger.exception("CLI mode failed")
     else:
         os.environ["QtWidgets.QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR"] = "1"
         args = []
@@ -149,7 +193,7 @@ def ctmain():
 
             sys.exit(app.exec())
         except Exception:
-            logger.exception()
+            logger.exception("GUI mode failed")
             QtWidgets.QMessageBox.critical(
                 QtWidgets.QMainWindow(), "Error", "Unhandled exception in app:\n" + traceback.format_exc()
             )
diff --git a/comictaggerlib/settings.py b/comictaggerlib/settings.py
index fefdd16..0af8402 100644
--- a/comictaggerlib/settings.py
+++ b/comictaggerlib/settings.py
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ class ComicTaggerSettings:
                 yield line
                 line = f.readline()
 
-        with open(self.settings_file, "r") as f:
+        with open(self.settings_file, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
             self.config.read_file(readline_generator(f))
 
         self.rar_exe_path = self.config.get("settings", "rar_exe_path")
@@ -451,5 +451,5 @@ class ComicTaggerSettings:
         self.config.set("autotag", "remove_archive_after_successful_match", self.remove_archive_after_successful_match)
         self.config.set("autotag", "wait_and_retry_on_rate_limit", self.wait_and_retry_on_rate_limit)
 
-        with open(self.settings_file, "w") as configfile:
+        with open(self.settings_file, "w", encoding="utf-8") as configfile:
             self.config.write(configfile)
diff --git a/comictaggerlib/ui/qtutils.py b/comictaggerlib/ui/qtutils.py
index e9d82c1..f2fb136 100644
--- a/comictaggerlib/ui/qtutils.py
+++ b/comictaggerlib/ui/qtutils.py
@@ -2,13 +2,14 @@
 
 import io
 import logging
+import traceback
 
 from comictaggerlib.settings import ComicTaggerSettings
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 try:
-    from PyQt5 import QtGui
+    from PyQt5 import QtGui, QtWidgets
 
     qt_available = True
 except ImportError:
@@ -74,3 +75,10 @@ if qt_available:
         if not success:
             img.load(ComicTaggerSettings.get_graphic("nocover.png"))
         return img
+
+    def qt_error(msg: str, e: Exception = None):
+        trace = ""
+        if e:
+            trace = "\n".join(traceback.format_exception(type(e), e, e.__traceback__))
+
+        QtWidgets.QMessageBox.critical(QtWidgets.QMainWindow(), "Error", msg + trace)
diff --git a/requirements_dev.txt b/requirements_dev.txt
index b2f34bc..5f025ae 100644
--- a/requirements_dev.txt
+++ b/requirements_dev.txt
@@ -4,4 +4,5 @@ setuptools_scm[toml]>=3.4
 wheel
 black>=22
 flake8==4.*
+flake8-encodings
 isort>=5.10
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index fcebbaf..a0f302f 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ def read(fname):
     str
         File contents.
     """
-    with open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), fname)) as f:
+    with open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), fname), encoding="utf-8") as f:
         return f.read()