diff --git a/Bloxstrap/Bootstrapper.cs b/Bloxstrap/Bootstrapper.cs
index 6f767e3..d192b25 100644
--- a/Bloxstrap/Bootstrapper.cs
+++ b/Bloxstrap/Bootstrapper.cs
@@ -1396,9 +1396,9 @@ namespace Bloxstrap
                     UpdateProgressBar();
 
                     // attempt download over HTTP
-                    // this isn't actually that unsafe - signatures were established earlier over HTTPS
-                    // so we've already established that our signatures are legit, and that there's no MITM anyway
-                    if (ex.Message.Contains("The decryption operation failed"))
+                    // this isn't actually that unsafe - signatures were fetched earlier over HTTPS
+                    // so we've already established that our signatures are legit, and that there's very likely no MITM anyway
+                    if (ex.GetType() == typeof(IOException) && !packageUrl.StartsWith("http://"))
                     {
                         App.Logger.WriteLine(LOG_IDENT, "Retrying download over HTTP...");
                         packageUrl = packageUrl.Replace("https://", "http://");
diff --git a/Bloxstrap/Enums/ErrorCode.cs b/Bloxstrap/Enums/ErrorCode.cs
index d9fbd42..ba6b65e 100644
--- a/Bloxstrap/Enums/ErrorCode.cs
+++ b/Bloxstrap/Enums/ErrorCode.cs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 {
     // https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/error-codes
     // https://i-logic.com/serial/errorcodes.htm
+    // https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/windows_protocols/ms-erref/705fb797-2175-4a90-b5a3-3918024b10b8
     // just the ones that we're interested in
 
     public enum ErrorCode
@@ -9,6 +10,8 @@
         ERROR_SUCCESS = 0,
         ERROR_INSTALL_USEREXIT = 1602,
         ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE = 1603,
-        ERROR_CANCELLED = 1223
+        ERROR_CANCELLED = 1223,
+
+        CO_E_APPNOTFOUND = -2147221003
     }
 }
diff --git a/Bloxstrap/Utilities.cs b/Bloxstrap/Utilities.cs
index 533928a..565dc79 100644
--- a/Bloxstrap/Utilities.cs
+++ b/Bloxstrap/Utilities.cs
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ namespace Bloxstrap
             {
                 // lmfao
 
-                if (!ex.Message.Contains("Application not found"))
+                if (ex.NativeErrorCode != (int)ErrorCode.CO_E_APPNOTFOUND)
                     throw;
 
                 Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo