diff --git a/libqnotero/preferences.py b/libqnotero/preferences.py
index 893e4ca..5ddbe25 100644
--- a/libqnotero/preferences.py
+++ b/libqnotero/preferences.py
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ def __init__(self, qnotero, firstRun=False):
 		QDialog.__init__(self)
 		self.qnotero = qnotero
 		uiPath = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'ui', 'preferences.ui')
-		print('Preferences.__init__(): loading preferences ui from %s' % uiPath)
 		self.ui = uic.loadUi(uiPath, self)
 		self.ui.labelLocatePath.hide()
 		if not firstRun:
diff --git a/libqnotero/qnotero.py b/libqnotero/qnotero.py
index c2bbe32..880c67c 100644
--- a/libqnotero/qnotero.py
+++ b/libqnotero/qnotero.py
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ def __init__(self, systray=True, debug=False, reset=False, parent=None):
 
 		QMainWindow.__init__(self, parent)
 		uiPath = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'ui', 'qnotero.ui')
-		print('qnotero.__init__(): loading Qnotero ui from %s' % uiPath)
 		self.ui = uic.loadUi(uiPath, self)
 		if not reset:
 			self.restoreState()
@@ -63,7 +62,7 @@ def __init__(self, systray=True, debug=False, reset=False, parent=None):
 			self.minimizeOnClose = True
 		else:
 			self.minimizeOnClose = False
-		if getConfig(u"firstRun"):
+		if getConfig(u"firstRun") or not os.path.exists(getConfig('zoteroPath')):
 			self.preferences(firstRun=True)
 		if getConfig(u"autoUpdateCheck"):
 			self.updateCheck()
@@ -228,13 +227,12 @@ def runResult(self, listWidgetItem):
 		if listWidgetItem.zoteroItem.fulltext == None:
 			return
 		pdf = listWidgetItem.zoteroItem.fulltext
-		if os.name == u"nt":
+		if os.name == 'nt':
 			os.startfile(pdf)
 		else:
 			# For some reason, the file must be encoded with latin-1, despite
 			# the fact that it's a utf-8 encoded database and filesystem!
-			pdf = pdf.encode(u'latin-1')
-			reader = getConfig(u'pdfReader').encode(sys.getfilesystemencoding())
+			reader = getConfig('pdfReader').encode(sys.getfilesystemencoding())
 			pid = subprocess.Popen([reader, pdf])
 		self.popDown()
 
diff --git a/libzotero/libzotero.py b/libzotero/libzotero.py
index efa078e..90221e4 100644
--- a/libzotero/libzotero.py
+++ b/libzotero/libzotero.py
@@ -99,8 +99,8 @@ def __init__(self, zotero_path, noteProvider=None):
 		"""
 
 		assert(isinstance(zotero_path, str))
-
-		print(u"libzotero.__init__(): zotero_path = %s" % zotero_path)
+		print(u"libzotero.__init__(): zotero_path = %s" % bytes(zotero_path,
+			'utf-8'))
 		# Set paths
 		self.zotero_path = zotero_path
 		self.storage_path = os.path.join(self.zotero_path, u"storage")
@@ -270,6 +270,10 @@ def update(self, force=False):
 						# by "storage:"
 						if att[:8] == u"storage:":
 							item_attachment = att[8:]
+							# The item attachment appears to be encoded in
+							# latin-1 encoding, which we don't want, so recode.
+							item_attachment = item_attachment.encode(
+								'latin-1').decode('utf-8')
 							attachment_id = item[2]
 							if item_attachment[-4:].lower() in \
 								self.attachment_ext:
diff --git a/qnotero b/qnotero
index da19c1f..a8290cb 100755
--- a/qnotero
+++ b/qnotero
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
 		import socket
 		print(u"qnotero: Qnotero already running, sending activate signal")
 		sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
-		sock.sendto(u"activate", (u"localhost", getConfig(u"listenerPort")) )
+		sock.sendto(b"activate", (u"localhost", getConfig(u"listenerPort")) )
 		sys.exit()
 
 	# Normal start of Qnotero