diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 22cf50de..042f7b7a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ Open source web page monitoring, notification and change detection.
 
 [![Deploy](https://www.herokucdn.com/deploy/button.svg)](https://dashboard.heroku.com/new?template=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fdgtlmoon%2Fchangedetection.io%2Ftree%2Fmaster)
 
+Read the [Heroku notes and limitations wiki page first](https://github.com/dgtlmoon/changedetection.io/wiki/Heroku-notes)
+
 #### Example use cases
 
 - Products and services have a change in pricing
@@ -27,6 +29,7 @@ Open source web page monitoring, notification and change detection.
 - University/organisation news from their website
 - Detect and monitor changes in JSON API responses 
 - API monitoring and alerting
+- Changes in legal and other documents
 - Trigger API calls via notifications when text appears on a website
 - Glue together APIs using the JSON filter and JSON notifications
 - Create RSS feeds based on changes in web content
diff --git a/changedetectionio/__init__.py b/changedetectionio/__init__.py
index 5dc59761..e54c2f2d 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/__init__.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/__init__.py
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ def changedetection_app(config=None, datastore_o=None):
         # Get the most recent one
         newest_history_key = datastore.get_val(uuid, 'newest_history_key')
 
-        # 0 means that theres only one, so that there should be no 'unviewed' history availabe
+        # 0 means that theres only one, so that there should be no 'unviewed' history available
         if newest_history_key == 0:
             newest_history_key = list(datastore.data['watching'][uuid]['history'].keys())[0]
 
@@ -418,7 +418,11 @@ def changedetection_app(config=None, datastore_o=None):
                 stripped_content = handler.strip_ignore_text(raw_content,
                                                              datastore.data['watching'][uuid]['ignore_text'])
 
-                checksum = hashlib.md5(stripped_content).hexdigest()
+                if datastore.data['settings']['application'].get('ignore_whitespace', False):
+                    checksum = hashlib.md5(stripped_content.translate(None, b'\r\n\t ')).hexdigest()
+                else:
+                    checksum = hashlib.md5(stripped_content).hexdigest()
+
                 return checksum
 
         return datastore.data['watching'][uuid]['previous_md5']
@@ -553,6 +557,8 @@ def changedetection_app(config=None, datastore_o=None):
         if request.method == 'GET':
             form.minutes_between_check.data = int(datastore.data['settings']['requests']['minutes_between_check'])
             form.notification_urls.data = datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_urls']
+            form.global_ignore_text.data = datastore.data['settings']['application']['global_ignore_text']
+            form.ignore_whitespace.data = datastore.data['settings']['application']['ignore_whitespace']
             form.extract_title_as_title.data = datastore.data['settings']['application']['extract_title_as_title']
             form.fetch_backend.data = datastore.data['settings']['application']['fetch_backend']
             form.notification_title.data = datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_title']
@@ -579,6 +585,8 @@ def changedetection_app(config=None, datastore_o=None):
             datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_format'] = form.notification_format.data
             datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_urls'] = form.notification_urls.data
             datastore.data['settings']['application']['base_url'] = form.base_url.data
+            datastore.data['settings']['application']['global_ignore_text'] =  form.global_ignore_text.data
+            datastore.data['settings']['application']['ignore_whitespace'] = form.ignore_whitespace.data
 
             if form.trigger_check.data:
                 if len(form.notification_urls.data):
@@ -751,7 +759,8 @@ def changedetection_app(config=None, datastore_o=None):
         from pathlib import Path
 
         # Remove any existing backup file, for now we just keep one file
-        for previous_backup_filename in Path(app.config['datastore_path']).rglob('changedetection-backup-*.zip'):
+
+        for previous_backup_filename in Path(datastore_o.datastore_path).rglob('changedetection-backup-*.zip'):
             os.unlink(previous_backup_filename)
 
         # create a ZipFile object
@@ -759,7 +768,7 @@ def changedetection_app(config=None, datastore_o=None):
 
         # We only care about UUIDS from the current index file
         uuids = list(datastore.data['watching'].keys())
-        backup_filepath = os.path.join(app.config['datastore_path'], backupname)
+        backup_filepath = os.path.join(datastore_o.datastore_path, backupname)
 
         with zipfile.ZipFile(backup_filepath, "w",
                              compression=zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED,
@@ -769,22 +778,22 @@ def changedetection_app(config=None, datastore_o=None):
             datastore.sync_to_json()
 
             # Add the index
-            zipObj.write(os.path.join(app.config['datastore_path'], "url-watches.json"), arcname="url-watches.json")
+            zipObj.write(os.path.join(datastore_o.datastore_path, "url-watches.json"), arcname="url-watches.json")
 
             # Add the flask app secret
-            zipObj.write(os.path.join(app.config['datastore_path'], "secret.txt"), arcname="secret.txt")
+            zipObj.write(os.path.join(datastore_o.datastore_path, "secret.txt"), arcname="secret.txt")
 
             # Add any snapshot data we find, use the full path to access the file, but make the file 'relative' in the Zip.
-            for txt_file_path in Path(app.config['datastore_path']).rglob('*.txt'):
+            for txt_file_path in Path(datastore_o.datastore_path).rglob('*.txt'):
                 parent_p = txt_file_path.parent
                 if parent_p.name in uuids:
                     zipObj.write(txt_file_path,
-                                 arcname=str(txt_file_path).replace(app.config['datastore_path'], ''),
+                                 arcname=str(txt_file_path).replace(datastore_o.datastore_path, ''),
                                  compress_type=zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED,
                                  compresslevel=8)
 
             # Create a list file with just the URLs, so it's easier to port somewhere else in the future
-            list_file = os.path.join(app.config['datastore_path'], "url-list.txt")
+            list_file = os.path.join(datastore_o.datastore_path, "url-list.txt")
             with open(list_file, "w") as f:
                 for uuid in datastore.data['watching']:
                     url = datastore.data['watching'][uuid]['url']
@@ -796,7 +805,7 @@ def changedetection_app(config=None, datastore_o=None):
                          compress_type=zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED,
                          compresslevel=8)
 
-        return send_from_directory(app.config['datastore_path'], backupname, as_attachment=True)
+        return send_from_directory(datastore_o.datastore_path, backupname, as_attachment=True)
 
     @app.route("/static/<string:group>/<string:filename>", methods=['GET'])
     def static_content(group, filename):
diff --git a/changedetectionio/content_fetcher.py b/changedetectionio/content_fetcher.py
index 69713b2c..d82775b9 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/content_fetcher.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/content_fetcher.py
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ class EmptyReply(Exception):
 class Fetcher():
     error = None
     status_code = None
-    content = None # Should be bytes?
+    content = None # Should always be bytes.
+    headers = None
 
     fetcher_description ="No description"
 
@@ -68,9 +69,12 @@ class html_webdriver(Fetcher):
 
     # Configs for Proxy setup
     # In the ENV vars, is prefixed with "webdriver_", so it is for example "webdriver_sslProxy"
-    selenium_proxy_settings_mappings = ['ftpProxy', 'httpProxy', 'noProxy',
+    selenium_proxy_settings_mappings = ['proxyType', 'ftpProxy', 'httpProxy', 'noProxy',
                                         'proxyAutoconfigUrl', 'sslProxy', 'autodetect',
-                                        'socksProxy', 'socksUsername', 'socksPassword']
+                                        'socksProxy', 'socksVersion', 'socksUsername', 'socksPassword']
+
+
+
     proxy=None
 
     def __init__(self):
@@ -110,6 +114,7 @@ class html_webdriver(Fetcher):
         # @todo - dom wait loaded?
         time.sleep(5)
         self.content = driver.page_source
+        self.headers = {}
 
         driver.quit()
 
@@ -126,7 +131,6 @@ class html_webdriver(Fetcher):
         # driver.quit() seems to cause better exceptions
         driver.quit()
 
-
         return True
 
 # "html_requests" is listed as the default fetcher in store.py!
@@ -143,6 +147,8 @@ class html_requests(Fetcher):
                          timeout=timeout,
                          verify=False)
 
+        # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44203397/python-requests-get-returns-improperly-decoded-text-instead-of-utf-8
+        # Return bytes here
         html = r.text
 
 
@@ -152,4 +158,5 @@ class html_requests(Fetcher):
 
         self.status_code = r.status_code
         self.content = html
+        self.headers = r.headers
 
diff --git a/changedetectionio/fetch_site_status.py b/changedetectionio/fetch_site_status.py
index 69ff7de0..98c0be1d 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/fetch_site_status.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/fetch_site_status.py
@@ -58,8 +58,7 @@ class perform_site_check():
 
         watch = self.datastore.data['watching'][uuid]
 
-        update_obj = {'previous_md5': self.datastore.data['watching'][uuid]['previous_md5'],
-                      'history': {},
+        update_obj = {
                       "last_checked": timestamp
                       }
 
@@ -104,9 +103,16 @@ class perform_site_check():
             # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41817578/basic-method-chaining ?
             # return content().textfilter().jsonextract().checksumcompare() ?
 
-            is_html = True
+            is_json = fetcher.headers.get('Content-Type', '') == 'application/json'
+            is_html = not is_json
             css_filter_rule = watch['css_filter']
-            if css_filter_rule and len(css_filter_rule.strip()):
+
+            has_filter_rule = css_filter_rule and len(css_filter_rule.strip())
+            if is_json and not has_filter_rule:
+                css_filter_rule = "json:$"
+                has_filter_rule = True
+
+            if has_filter_rule:
                 if 'json:' in css_filter_rule:
                     stripped_text_from_html = html_tools.extract_json_as_string(content=fetcher.content, jsonpath_filter=css_filter_rule)
                     is_html = False
@@ -117,28 +123,39 @@ class perform_site_check():
             if is_html:
                 # CSS Filter, extract the HTML that matches and feed that into the existing inscriptis::get_text
                 html_content = fetcher.content
-                if css_filter_rule and len(css_filter_rule.strip()):
+                if has_filter_rule:
                     html_content = html_tools.css_filter(css_filter=css_filter_rule, html_content=fetcher.content)
 
                 # get_text() via inscriptis
                 stripped_text_from_html = get_text(html_content)
 
+            # Re #340 - return the content before the 'ignore text' was applied
+            text_content_before_ignored_filter = stripped_text_from_html.encode('utf-8')
+
             # We rely on the actual text in the html output.. many sites have random script vars etc,
             # in the future we'll implement other mechanisms.
 
             update_obj["last_check_status"] = fetcher.get_last_status_code()
             update_obj["last_error"] = False
 
-
             # If there's text to skip
             # @todo we could abstract out the get_text() to handle this cleaner
-            if len(watch['ignore_text']):
-                stripped_text_from_html = self.strip_ignore_text(stripped_text_from_html, watch['ignore_text'])
+            text_to_ignore = watch.get('ignore_text', []) + self.datastore.data['settings']['application'].get('global_ignore_text', [])
+            if len(text_to_ignore):
+                stripped_text_from_html = self.strip_ignore_text(stripped_text_from_html, text_to_ignore)
             else:
                 stripped_text_from_html = stripped_text_from_html.encode('utf8')
 
+            # Re #133 - if we should strip whitespaces from triggering the change detected comparison
+            if self.datastore.data['settings']['application'].get('ignore_whitespace', False):
+                fetched_md5 = hashlib.md5(stripped_text_from_html.translate(None, b'\r\n\t ')).hexdigest()
+            else:
+                fetched_md5 = hashlib.md5(stripped_text_from_html).hexdigest()
 
-            fetched_md5 = hashlib.md5(stripped_text_from_html).hexdigest()
+            # On the first run of a site, watch['previous_md5'] will be an empty string, set it the current one.
+            if not len(watch['previous_md5']):
+                watch['previous_md5'] = fetched_md5
+                update_obj["previous_md5"] = fetched_md5
 
             blocked_by_not_found_trigger_text = False
 
@@ -160,16 +177,12 @@ class perform_site_check():
                         break
 
 
-            # could be None or False depending on JSON type
-            # On the first run of a site, watch['previous_md5'] will be an empty string
+
             if not blocked_by_not_found_trigger_text and watch['previous_md5'] != fetched_md5:
                 changed_detected = True
-
-                # Don't confuse people by updating as last-changed, when it actually just changed from None..
-                if self.datastore.get_val(uuid, 'previous_md5'):
-                    update_obj["last_changed"] = timestamp
-
                 update_obj["previous_md5"] = fetched_md5
+                update_obj["last_changed"] = timestamp
+
 
             # Extract title as title
             if is_html:
@@ -178,4 +191,4 @@ class perform_site_check():
                         update_obj['title'] = html_tools.extract_element(find='title', html_content=fetcher.content)
 
 
-        return changed_detected, update_obj, stripped_text_from_html
+        return changed_detected, update_obj, text_content_before_ignored_filter
diff --git a/changedetectionio/forms.py b/changedetectionio/forms.py
index 74f9a3c8..010abc03 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/forms.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/forms.py
@@ -259,3 +259,5 @@ class globalSettingsForm(commonSettingsForm):
                                                [validators.NumberRange(min=1)])
     extract_title_as_title = BooleanField('Extract <title> from document and use as watch title')
     base_url = StringField('Base URL', validators=[validators.Optional()])
+    global_ignore_text = StringListField('Ignore Text', [ValidateListRegex()])
+    ignore_whitespace = BooleanField('Ignore whitespace')
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/changedetectionio/store.py b/changedetectionio/store.py
index da95ba03..646c15bf 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/store.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/store.py
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ class ChangeDetectionStore:
                     'base_url' : None,
                     'extract_title_as_title': False,
                     'fetch_backend': 'html_requests',
+                    'global_ignore_text': [], # List of text to ignore when calculating the comparison checksum
+                    'ignore_whitespace': False,
                     'notification_urls': [], # Apprise URL list
                     # Custom notification content
                     'notification_title': None,
@@ -368,6 +370,10 @@ class ChangeDetectionStore:
         import uuid
 
         output_path = "{}/{}".format(self.datastore_path, watch_uuid)
+        # Incase the operator deleted it, check and create.
+        if not os.path.isdir(output_path):
+            mkdir(output_path)
+
         fname = "{}/{}.stripped.txt".format(output_path, uuid.uuid4())
         with open(fname, 'wb') as f:
             f.write(contents)
diff --git a/changedetectionio/templates/settings.html b/changedetectionio/templates/settings.html
index 3a048cc4..69c80686 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/templates/settings.html
+++ b/changedetectionio/templates/settings.html
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
             <li class="tab" id="default-tab"><a href="#general">General</a></li>
             <li class="tab"><a href="#notifications">Notifications</a></li>
             <li class="tab"><a href="#fetching">Fetching</a></li>
+            <li class="tab"><a href="#filters">Global Filters</a></li>
         </ul>
     </div>
     <div class="box-wrap inner">
@@ -65,6 +66,29 @@
                     </span>
                 </div>
             </div>
+
+
+            <div class="tab-pane-inner" id="filters">
+
+                    <fieldset class="pure-group">
+                    {{ render_field(form.ignore_whitespace) }}
+                    <span class="pure-form-message-inline">Ignore whitespace, tabs and new-lines/line-feeds when considering if a change was detected.<br/>
+                    <i>Note:</i> Changing this will change the status of your existing watches, possibily trigger alerts etc.
+                    </span>
+                    </fieldset>
+
+
+                    <fieldset class="pure-group">
+                    {{ render_field(form.global_ignore_text, rows=5, placeholder="Some text to ignore in a line
+/some.regex\d{2}/ for case-INsensitive regex
+                    ") }}
+                    <span class="pure-form-message-inline">Note: This is applied globally in addition to the per-watch rules.</span><br/>
+                    <span class="pure-form-message-inline">Each line processed separately, any line matching will be ignored.<br/>
+                    Regular Expression support, wrap the line in forward slash <b>/regex/</b>.
+                     </span>
+                    </fieldset>
+           </div>
+
             <div id="actions">
                 <div class="pure-control-group">
                     <button type="submit" class="pure-button pure-button-primary">Save</button>
diff --git a/changedetectionio/tests/conftest.py b/changedetectionio/tests/conftest.py
index f34ed5bb..aced3075 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/tests/conftest.py
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ def cleanup(datastore_path):
              'url-watches.json',
              'notification.txt',
              'count.txt',
-             'endpoint-content.txt']
+             'endpoint-content.txt'
+                 ]
     for file in files:
         try:
             os.unlink("{}/{}".format(datastore_path, file))
diff --git a/changedetectionio/tests/test_backup.py b/changedetectionio/tests/test_backup.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..787d7fc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changedetectionio/tests/test_backup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python3
+
+import time
+from flask import url_for
+from urllib.request import urlopen
+from . util import set_original_response, set_modified_response, live_server_setup
+
+
+def test_backup(client, live_server):
+
+    live_server_setup(live_server)
+
+    # Give the endpoint time to spin up
+    time.sleep(1)
+
+    res = client.get(
+        url_for("get_backup"),
+        follow_redirects=True
+    )
+
+    # Should get the right zip content type
+    assert res.content_type == "application/zip"
+    # Should be PK/ZIP stream
+    assert res.data.count(b'PK') >= 2
+
diff --git a/changedetectionio/tests/test_ignore_text.py b/changedetectionio/tests/test_ignore_text.py
index 119f26eb..726a6f9b 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/tests/test_ignore_text.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/tests/test_ignore_text.py
@@ -151,3 +151,88 @@ def test_check_ignore_text_functionality(client, live_server):
 
     res = client.get(url_for("api_delete", uuid="all"), follow_redirects=True)
     assert b'Deleted' in res.data
+
+def test_check_global_ignore_text_functionality(client, live_server):
+    sleep_time_for_fetch_thread = 3
+
+    ignore_text = "XXXXX\r\nYYYYY\r\nZZZZZ"
+    set_original_ignore_response()
+
+    # Give the endpoint time to spin up
+    time.sleep(1)
+
+    # Add our URL to the import page
+    test_url = url_for('test_endpoint', _external=True)
+    res = client.post(
+        url_for("import_page"),
+        data={"urls": test_url},
+        follow_redirects=True
+    )
+    assert b"1 Imported" in res.data
+
+    # Trigger a check
+    client.get(url_for("api_watch_checknow"), follow_redirects=True)
+
+    # Give the thread time to pick it up
+    time.sleep(sleep_time_for_fetch_thread)
+
+    # Goto the settings page, add our ignore text
+    res = client.post(
+        url_for("settings_page"),
+        data={
+            "minutes_between_check": 180,
+            "global_ignore_text": ignore_text,
+            'fetch_backend': "html_requests"
+        },
+        follow_redirects=True
+    )
+    assert b"Settings updated." in res.data
+
+    # Goto the edit page of the item, add our ignore text
+    # Add our URL to the import page
+    res = client.post(
+        url_for("edit_page", uuid="first"),
+        data={"ignore_text": "something irrelevent but just to check", "url": test_url, 'fetch_backend': "html_requests"},
+        follow_redirects=True
+    )
+    assert b"Updated watch." in res.data
+
+    # Check it saved
+    res = client.get(
+        url_for("settings_page"),
+    )
+    assert bytes(ignore_text.encode('utf-8')) in res.data
+
+    # Trigger a check
+    client.get(url_for("api_watch_checknow"), follow_redirects=True)
+
+    # Give the thread time to pick it up
+    time.sleep(sleep_time_for_fetch_thread)
+
+    # It should report nothing found (no new 'unviewed' class)
+    res = client.get(url_for("index"))
+    assert b'unviewed' not in res.data
+    assert b'/test-endpoint' in res.data
+
+    #  Make a change
+    set_modified_ignore_response()
+
+    # Trigger a check
+    client.get(url_for("api_watch_checknow"), follow_redirects=True)
+    # Give the thread time to pick it up
+    time.sleep(sleep_time_for_fetch_thread)
+
+    # It should report nothing found (no new 'unviewed' class)
+    res = client.get(url_for("index"))
+    assert b'unviewed' not in res.data
+    assert b'/test-endpoint' in res.data
+
+    # Just to be sure.. set a regular modified change..
+    set_modified_original_ignore_response()
+    client.get(url_for("api_watch_checknow"), follow_redirects=True)
+    time.sleep(sleep_time_for_fetch_thread)
+    res = client.get(url_for("index"))
+    assert b'unviewed' in res.data
+
+    res = client.get(url_for("api_delete", uuid="all"), follow_redirects=True)
+    assert b'Deleted' in res.data
diff --git a/changedetectionio/tests/test_ignorewhitespace.py b/changedetectionio/tests/test_ignorewhitespace.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..062efd70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changedetectionio/tests/test_ignorewhitespace.py
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python3
+
+import time
+from flask import url_for
+from . util import live_server_setup
+
+def test_setup(live_server):
+    live_server_setup(live_server)
+
+
+# Should be the same as set_original_ignore_response() but with a little more whitespacing
+def set_original_ignore_response_but_with_whitespace():
+    test_return_data = """<html>
+       <body>
+     Some initial text</br>
+     <p>
+
+
+     Which is across multiple lines</p>
+     <br>
+     </br>
+
+         So let's see what happens.  </br>
+
+
+     </body>
+     </html>
+
+    """
+    with open("test-datastore/endpoint-content.txt", "w") as f:
+        f.write(test_return_data)
+
+
+def set_original_ignore_response():
+    test_return_data = """<html>
+       <body>
+     Some initial text</br>
+     <p>Which is across multiple lines</p>
+     </br>
+     So let's see what happens.  </br>
+     </body>
+     </html>
+
+    """
+
+    with open("test-datastore/endpoint-content.txt", "w") as f:
+        f.write(test_return_data)
+
+
+
+# If there was only a change in the whitespacing, then we shouldnt have a change detected
+def test_check_ignore_whitespace(client, live_server):
+    sleep_time_for_fetch_thread = 3
+
+    # Give the endpoint time to spin up
+    time.sleep(1)
+
+    set_original_ignore_response()
+
+    # Goto the settings page, add our ignore text
+    res = client.post(
+        url_for("settings_page"),
+        data={
+            "minutes_between_check": 180,
+            "ignore_whitespace": "y",
+            'fetch_backend': "html_requests"
+        },
+        follow_redirects=True
+    )
+    assert b"Settings updated." in res.data
+
+    # Add our URL to the import page
+    test_url = url_for('test_endpoint', _external=True)
+    res = client.post(
+        url_for("import_page"),
+        data={"urls": test_url},
+        follow_redirects=True
+    )
+    assert b"1 Imported" in res.data
+
+    time.sleep(sleep_time_for_fetch_thread)
+    # Trigger a check
+    client.get(url_for("api_watch_checknow"), follow_redirects=True)
+
+    set_original_ignore_response_but_with_whitespace()
+    time.sleep(sleep_time_for_fetch_thread)
+    # Trigger a check
+    client.get(url_for("api_watch_checknow"), follow_redirects=True)
+
+    # Give the thread time to pick it up
+    time.sleep(sleep_time_for_fetch_thread)
+
+    # It should report nothing found (no new 'unviewed' class)
+    res = client.get(url_for("index"))
+    assert b'unviewed' not in res.data
+    assert b'/test-endpoint' in res.data
diff --git a/changedetectionio/tests/test_jsonpath_selector.py b/changedetectionio/tests/test_jsonpath_selector.py
index 39529642..5a4b7959 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/tests/test_jsonpath_selector.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/tests/test_jsonpath_selector.py
@@ -111,6 +111,21 @@ def set_original_response():
         f.write(test_return_data)
     return None
 
+
+def set_response_with_html():
+    test_return_data = """
+    {
+      "test": [
+        {
+          "html": "<b>"
+        }
+      ]
+    }
+    """
+    with open("test-datastore/endpoint-content.txt", "w") as f:
+        f.write(test_return_data)
+    return None
+
 def set_modified_response():
     test_return_data = """
     {
@@ -138,6 +153,37 @@ def set_modified_response():
 
     return None
 
+def test_check_json_without_filter(client, live_server):
+    # Request a JSON document from a application/json source containing HTML
+    # and be sure it doesn't get chewed up by instriptis
+    set_response_with_html()
+
+    # Give the endpoint time to spin up
+    time.sleep(1)
+
+    # Add our URL to the import page
+    test_url = url_for('test_endpoint_json', _external=True)
+    client.post(
+        url_for("import_page"),
+        data={"urls": test_url},
+        follow_redirects=True
+    )
+
+    # Trigger a check
+    client.get(url_for("api_watch_checknow"), follow_redirects=True)
+
+    # Give the thread time to pick it up
+    time.sleep(3)
+
+    res = client.get(
+        url_for("preview_page", uuid="first"),
+        follow_redirects=True
+    )
+
+    assert b'&#34;&lt;b&gt;' in res.data
+    assert res.data.count(b'{\n') >= 2
+
+
 def test_check_json_filter(client, live_server):
     json_filter = 'json:boss.name'
 
diff --git a/changedetectionio/tests/test_notification.py b/changedetectionio/tests/test_notification.py
index 3cfeecf9..21083066 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/tests/test_notification.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/tests/test_notification.py
@@ -159,6 +159,9 @@ def test_check_notification(client, live_server):
 
     with open("test-datastore/notification.txt", "r") as f:
         notification_submission = f.read()
+        print ("Notification submission was:", notification_submission)
+        # Re #342 - check for accidental python byte encoding of non-utf8/string
+        assert "b'" not in notification_submission
 
         assert re.search('Watch UUID: [0-9a-f]{8}(-[0-9a-f]{4}){3}-[0-9a-f]{12}', notification_submission, re.IGNORECASE)
         assert "Watch title: my title" in notification_submission
diff --git a/changedetectionio/tests/util.py b/changedetectionio/tests/util.py
index 80eb9820..2e30be25 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/tests/util.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/tests/util.py
@@ -44,6 +44,16 @@ def live_server_setup(live_server):
         with open("test-datastore/endpoint-content.txt", "r") as f:
             return f.read()
 
+    @live_server.app.route('/test-endpoint-json')
+    def test_endpoint_json():
+
+        from flask import make_response
+
+        with open("test-datastore/endpoint-content.txt", "r") as f:
+            resp = make_response(f.read())
+            resp.headers['Content-Type'] = 'application/json'
+            return resp
+
     # Just return the headers in the request
     @live_server.app.route('/test-headers')
     def test_headers():
diff --git a/changedetectionio/update_worker.py b/changedetectionio/update_worker.py
index 4ab1d806..a4181426 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/update_worker.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/update_worker.py
@@ -2,7 +2,12 @@ import threading
 import queue
 import time
 
-# Requests for checking on the site use a pool of thread Workers managed by a Queue.
+# A single update worker
+#
+# Requests for checking on a single site(watch) from a queue of watches
+# (another process inserts watches into the queue that are time-ready for checking)
+
+
 class update_worker(threading.Thread):
     current_uuid = None
 
@@ -39,6 +44,13 @@ class update_worker(threading.Thread):
                         now = time.time()
                         changed_detected, update_obj, contents = update_handler.run(uuid)
 
+                        # Re #342
+                        # In Python 3, all strings are sequences of Unicode characters. There is a bytes type that holds raw bytes.
+                        # We then convert/.decode('utf-8') for the notification etc
+                        if not isinstance(contents, (bytes, bytearray)):
+                            raise Exception("Error - returned data from the fetch handler SHOULD be bytes")
+
+
                         # Always record that we atleast tried
                         self.datastore.update_watch(uuid=uuid, update_obj={'fetch_time': round(time.time() - now, 3)})
 
@@ -52,74 +64,77 @@ class update_worker(threading.Thread):
                         self.datastore.update_watch(uuid=uuid, update_obj={'last_error': str(e)})
 
                     else:
-                        if update_obj:
-                            try:
-                                self.datastore.update_watch(uuid=uuid, update_obj=update_obj)
-                                if changed_detected:
-                                    n_object = {}
-                                    # A change was detected
-                                    fname = self.datastore.save_history_text(watch_uuid=uuid, contents=contents)
-
-                                    # Update history with the stripped text for future reference, this will also mean we save the first
-                                    # Should always be keyed by string(timestamp)
-                                    self.datastore.update_watch(uuid, {"history": {str(update_obj["last_checked"]): fname}})
-
-                                    watch = self.datastore.data['watching'][uuid]
-
-                                    print (">> Change detected in UUID {} - {}".format(uuid, watch['url']))
-
-                                    # Notifications should only trigger on the second time (first time, we gather the initial snapshot)
-                                    if len(watch['history']) > 1:
-
-                                        dates = list(watch['history'].keys())
-                                        # Convert to int, sort and back to str again
-                                        # @todo replace datastore getter that does this automatically
-                                        dates = [int(i) for i in dates]
-                                        dates.sort(reverse=True)
-                                        dates = [str(i) for i in dates]
-
-                                        prev_fname = watch['history'][dates[1]]
-
-
-                                        # Did it have any notification alerts to hit?
-                                        if len(watch['notification_urls']):
-                                            print(">>> Notifications queued for UUID from watch {}".format(uuid))
-                                            n_object['notification_urls'] = watch['notification_urls']
-                                            n_object['notification_title'] = watch['notification_title']
-                                            n_object['notification_body'] = watch['notification_body']
-                                            n_object['notification_format'] = watch['notification_format']
-
-                                        # No? maybe theres a global setting, queue them all
-                                        elif len(self.datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_urls']):
-                                            print(">>> Watch notification URLs were empty, using GLOBAL notifications for UUID: {}".format(uuid))
-                                            n_object['notification_urls'] = self.datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_urls']
-                                            n_object['notification_title'] = self.datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_title']
-                                            n_object['notification_body'] = self.datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_body']
-                                            n_object['notification_format'] = self.datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_format']
+                        try:
+                            watch = self.datastore.data['watching'][uuid]
+
+                            # For the FIRST time we check a site, or a change detected, save the snapshot.
+                            if changed_detected or not watch['last_checked']:
+                                # A change was detected
+                                fname = self.datastore.save_history_text(watch_uuid=uuid, contents=contents)
+                                # Should always be keyed by string(timestamp)
+                                self.datastore.update_watch(uuid, {"history": {str(update_obj["last_checked"]): fname}})
+
+                            # Generally update anything interesting returned
+                            self.datastore.update_watch(uuid=uuid, update_obj=update_obj)
+
+                            # A change was detected
+                            if changed_detected:
+                                n_object = {}
+                                print (">> Change detected in UUID {} - {}".format(uuid, watch['url']))
+
+                                # Notifications should only trigger on the second time (first time, we gather the initial snapshot)
+                                if len(watch['history']) > 1:
+
+                                    dates = list(watch['history'].keys())
+                                    # Convert to int, sort and back to str again
+                                    # @todo replace datastore getter that does this automatically
+                                    dates = [int(i) for i in dates]
+                                    dates.sort(reverse=True)
+                                    dates = [str(i) for i in dates]
+
+                                    prev_fname = watch['history'][dates[1]]
+
+
+                                    # Did it have any notification alerts to hit?
+                                    if len(watch['notification_urls']):
+                                        print(">>> Notifications queued for UUID from watch {}".format(uuid))
+                                        n_object['notification_urls'] = watch['notification_urls']
+                                        n_object['notification_title'] = watch['notification_title']
+                                        n_object['notification_body'] = watch['notification_body']
+                                        n_object['notification_format'] = watch['notification_format']
+
+                                    # No? maybe theres a global setting, queue them all
+                                    elif len(self.datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_urls']):
+                                        print(">>> Watch notification URLs were empty, using GLOBAL notifications for UUID: {}".format(uuid))
+                                        n_object['notification_urls'] = self.datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_urls']
+                                        n_object['notification_title'] = self.datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_title']
+                                        n_object['notification_body'] = self.datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_body']
+                                        n_object['notification_format'] = self.datastore.data['settings']['application']['notification_format']
+                                    else:
+                                        print(">>> NO notifications queued, watch and global notification URLs were empty.")
+
+                                    # Only prepare to notify if the rules above matched
+                                    if 'notification_urls' in n_object:
+                                        # HTML needs linebreak, but MarkDown and Text can use a linefeed
+                                        if n_object['notification_format'] == 'HTML':
+                                            line_feed_sep = "</br>"
                                         else:
-                                            print(">>> NO notifications queued, watch and global notification URLs were empty.")
-
-                                        # Only prepare to notify if the rules above matched
-                                        if 'notification_urls' in n_object:
-                                            # HTML needs linebreak, but MarkDown and Text can use a linefeed
-                                            if n_object['notification_format'] == 'HTML':
-                                                line_feed_sep = "</br>"
-                                            else:
-                                                line_feed_sep = "\n"
-
-                                            from changedetectionio import diff
-                                            n_object.update({
-                                                'watch_url': watch['url'],
-                                                'uuid': uuid,
-                                                'current_snapshot': str(contents),
-                                                'diff_full': diff.render_diff(prev_fname, fname, line_feed_sep=line_feed_sep),
-                                                'diff': diff.render_diff(prev_fname, fname, True, line_feed_sep=line_feed_sep)
-                                            })
-
-                                            self.notification_q.put(n_object)
-
-                            except Exception as e:
-                                print("!!!! Exception in update_worker !!!\n", e)
+                                            line_feed_sep = "\n"
+
+                                        from changedetectionio import diff
+                                        n_object.update({
+                                            'watch_url': watch['url'],
+                                            'uuid': uuid,
+                                            'current_snapshot': contents.decode('utf-8'),
+                                            'diff_full': diff.render_diff(prev_fname, fname, line_feed_sep=line_feed_sep),
+                                            'diff': diff.render_diff(prev_fname, fname, True, line_feed_sep=line_feed_sep)
+                                        })
+
+                                        self.notification_q.put(n_object)
+
+                        except Exception as e:
+                            # Catch everything possible here, so that if a worker crashes, we don't lose it until restart!
+                            print("!!!! Exception in update_worker !!!\n", e)
 
                 self.current_uuid = None  # Done
                 self.q.task_done()
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 1060ed58..1fc71bb9 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@ services:
   #       Alternative WebDriver/selenium URL, do not use "'s or 's!
   #      - WEBDRIVER_URL=http://browser-chrome:4444/wd/hub
   #
-  #       WebDriver proxy settings webdriver_ftpProxy, webdriver_httpProxy, webdriver_noProxy,
+  #       WebDriver proxy settings webdriver_proxyType, webdriver_ftpProxy, webdriver_httpProxy, webdriver_noProxy,
   #                                webdriver_proxyAutoconfigUrl, webdriver_sslProxy, webdriver_autodetect,
-  #                                webdriver_socksProxy, webdriver_socksUsername, webdriver_socksPassword
+  #                                webdriver_socksProxy, webdriver_socksUsername, webdriver_socksVersion, webdriver_socksPassword
   #
   #             https://selenium-python.readthedocs.io/api.html#module-selenium.webdriver.common.proxy
   #
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 510dd383..23583d11 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -29,4 +29,5 @@ cryptography ~= 3.4
 # Used for CSS filtering, replace with soupsieve and lxml for xpath
 bs4
 
-selenium ~= 3.141
+# 3.141 was missing socksVersion, 3.150 was not in pypi, so we try 4.1.0
+selenium ~= 4.1.0