diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fd88bc9..8ae29c0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ You can find the latest released binary at the following links:
 ### For compiling/running from source:
 - Python 2.7 - Included in MacOS and Linux, follow the [official documentation](http://www.python.org/getit/windows/) to install on Windows.
 - PyQt4 - Please refer to official documentation for installing into your system.
-- [Pillow](http://pypi.python.org/pypi/Pillow/) - For comic optimizations. Please refer to official documentation for installing into your system.
+- [Pillow](http://pypi.python.org/pypi/Pillow/) 2.2.1+ - For comic optimizations. Please refer to official documentation for installing into your system.
 
 ## USAGE
 
diff --git a/kcc.py b/kcc.py
index dec47c2..ca1efe6 100644
--- a/kcc.py
+++ b/kcc.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import sys
 import os
 try:
     # noinspection PyUnresolvedReferences
-    from PyQt4 import QtGui
+    from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui, QtNetwork
 except ImportError:
     print "ERROR: PyQT4 is not installed!"
     exit(1)
@@ -41,13 +41,67 @@ elif sys.platform.startswith('linux'):
 else:
     from kcc import KCC_ui
 
+
+class QApplicationMessaging(QtGui.QApplication):
+    def __init__(self, argv):
+        QtGui.QApplication.__init__(self, argv)
+        self._memory = QtCore.QSharedMemory(self)
+        self._memory.setKey('KCC')
+        if self._memory.attach():
+            self._running = True
+        else:
+            self._running = False
+            if not self._memory.create(1):
+                raise RuntimeError(self._memory.errorString().toLocal8Bit().data())
+        self._key = 'KCC'
+        self._timeout = 1000
+        self._server = QtNetwork.QLocalServer(self)
+        if not self.isRunning():
+            self._server.newConnection.connect(self.handleMessage)
+            self._server.listen(self._key)
+
+    def isRunning(self):
+        return self._running
+
+    def handleMessage(self):
+        socket = self._server.nextPendingConnection()
+        if socket.waitForReadyRead(self._timeout):
+            self.emit(QtCore.SIGNAL('messageFromOtherInstance'), socket.readAll().data())
+
+    def sendMessage(self, message):
+        if self.isRunning():
+            socket = QtNetwork.QLocalSocket(self)
+            socket.connectToServer(self._key, QtCore.QIODevice.WriteOnly)
+            if not socket.waitForConnected(self._timeout):
+                return False
+            socket.write(message.encode('utf8'))
+            if not socket.waitForBytesWritten(self._timeout):
+                return False
+            socket.disconnectFromServer()
+            return True
+        return False
+
 freeze_support()
-APP = QtGui.QApplication(sys.argv)
+APP = QApplicationMessaging(sys.argv)
+if APP.isRunning():
+    if len(sys.argv) > 1:
+        APP.sendMessage('Araise!')
+        APP.sendMessage(sys.argv[1].decode(sys.getfilesystemencoding()))
+        sys.exit(0)
+    else:
+        messageBox = QtGui.QMessageBox()
+        icon = QtGui.QIcon()
+        icon.addPixmap(QtGui.QPixmap(':/Icon/icons/comic2ebook.png'), QtGui.QIcon.Normal, QtGui.QIcon.Off)
+        messageBox.setWindowIcon(icon)
+        QtGui.QMessageBox.critical(messageBox, 'KCC - Error', 'KCC is already running!', QtGui.QMessageBox.Ok)
+        sys.exit(1)
 KCC = QtGui.QMainWindow()
 UI = KCC_ui.Ui_KCC()
 UI.setupUi(KCC)
-GUI = KCC_gui.Ui_KCC(UI, KCC)
+GUI = KCC_gui.Ui_KCC(UI, KCC, APP)
 KCC.setWindowTitle("Kindle Comic Converter " + __version__)
 KCC.show()
 KCC.raise_()
+if len(sys.argv) > 1:
+    GUI.handleMessage(sys.argv[1].decode(sys.getfilesystemencoding()))
 sys.exit(APP.exec_())
diff --git a/kcc/KCC_gui.py b/kcc/KCC_gui.py
index ece60ba..3740699 100644
--- a/kcc/KCC_gui.py
+++ b/kcc/KCC_gui.py
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ class WorkerThread(QtCore.QThread):
                 argv.append("--forcecolor")
         for i in range(GUI.JobList.count()):
             if GUI.JobList.item(i).icon().isNull():
-                currentJobs.append(str(GUI.JobList.item(i).text()))
+                currentJobs.append(unicode(GUI.JobList.item(i).text()))
         GUI.JobList.clear()
         for job in currentJobs:
             time.sleep(0.5)
@@ -215,8 +215,8 @@ class WorkerThread(QtCore.QThread):
                         try:
                             self.kindlegenErrorCode = 0
                             if os.path.getsize(item) < 367001600:
-                                output = Popen('kindlegen -locale en "' + item + '"', stdout=PIPE, stderr=STDOUT,
-                                               shell=True)
+                                output = Popen('kindlegen -locale en "' + item.encode(sys.getfilesystemencoding()) +
+                                               '"', stdout=PIPE, stderr=STDOUT, shell=True)
                                 for line in output.stdout:
                                     # ERROR: Generic error
                                     if "Error(" in line:
@@ -312,18 +312,11 @@ class Ui_KCC(object):
             dnames = dirDialog.selectedFiles()
         else:
             dnames = ""
-        # Lame UTF-8 security measure
         for dname in dnames:
-            try:
-                str(dname)
-            except Exception:
-                QtGui.QMessageBox.critical(MainWindow, 'KCC Error', "Path cannot contain non-ASCII characters.",
-                                           QtGui.QMessageBox.Ok)
-                return
-            if str(dname) != "":
+            if unicode(dname) != "":
                 if sys.platform == 'win32':
                     dname = dname.replace('/', '\\')
-                self.lastPath = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(str(dname), os.pardir))
+                self.lastPath = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(unicode(dname), os.pardir))
                 GUI.JobList.addItem(dname)
 
     def selectFile(self):
@@ -344,16 +337,9 @@ class Ui_KCC(object):
             else:
                 fnames = QtGui.QFileDialog.getOpenFileNames(MainWindow, 'Select file', self.lastPath,
                                                             '*.cbz *.zip *.pdf')
-        # Lame UTF-8 security measure
         for fname in fnames:
-            try:
-                str(fname)
-            except Exception:
-                QtGui.QMessageBox.critical(MainWindow, 'KCC Error', "Path cannot contain non-ASCII characters.",
-                                           QtGui.QMessageBox.Ok)
-                return
-            if str(fname) != "":
-                self.lastPath = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(str(fname), os.pardir))
+            if unicode(fname) != "":
+                self.lastPath = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(unicode(fname), os.pardir))
                 GUI.JobList.addItem(fname)
 
     def clearJobs(self):
@@ -577,7 +563,7 @@ class Ui_KCC(object):
         GUI.JobList.scrollToBottom()
 
     def showDialog(self, message):
-        QtGui.QMessageBox.critical(MainWindow, 'KCC Error', message, QtGui.QMessageBox.Ok)
+        QtGui.QMessageBox.critical(MainWindow, 'KCC - Error', message, QtGui.QMessageBox.Ok)
 
     def updateProgressbar(self, new=False, status=False):
         if new == "status":
@@ -643,7 +629,11 @@ class Ui_KCC(object):
                                                            'GammaSlider': float(self.GammaValue)*100}))
         self.settings.sync()
 
-    def __init__(self, UI, KCC):
+    def handleMessage(self, message):
+        #TODO
+        print message
+
+    def __init__(self, UI, KCC, APP):
         global GUI, MainWindow
         GUI = UI
         MainWindow = KCC
@@ -714,6 +704,7 @@ class Ui_KCC(object):
             self.addMessage('Cannot find <a href="http://www.7-zip.org/download.html">7za</a>!'
                             ' Processing of CB7/7Z files will be disabled.', 'warning')
 
+        APP.connect(APP, QtCore.SIGNAL('messageFromOtherInstance'), self.handleMessage)
         GUI.BasicModeButton.clicked.connect(self.modeBasic)
         GUI.AdvModeButton.clicked.connect(self.modeAdvanced)
         GUI.DirectoryButton.clicked.connect(self.selectDir)
diff --git a/kcc/comic2ebook.py b/kcc/comic2ebook.py
index 3361d7d..408b470 100755
--- a/kcc/comic2ebook.py
+++ b/kcc/comic2ebook.py
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ def buildNCX(dstdir, title, chapters):
                   "<meta name=\"dtb:maxPageNumber\" content=\"0\"/>\n",
                   "<meta name=\"generated\" content=\"true\"/>\n",
                   "</head>\n",
-                  "<docTitle><text>", title, "</text></docTitle>\n",
+                  "<docTitle><text>", title.encode('utf-8'), "</text></docTitle>\n",
                   "<navMap>"
                   ])
     for chapter in chapters:
@@ -192,8 +192,9 @@ def buildNCX(dstdir, title, chapters):
         if os.path.basename(folder) != "Text":
             title = os.path.basename(folder)
         filename = getImageFileName(os.path.join(folder, chapter[1]))
-        f.write("<navPoint id=\"" + folder.replace('/', '_').replace('\\', '_') + "\"><navLabel><text>" + title
-                + "</text></navLabel><content src=\"" + filename[0].replace("\\", "/") + ".html\"/></navPoint>\n")
+        f.write("<navPoint id=\"" + folder.replace('/', '_').replace('\\', '_') + "\"><navLabel><text>"
+                + title.encode('utf-8') + "</text></navLabel><content src=\"" + filename[0].replace("\\", "/")
+                + ".html\"/></navPoint>\n")
     f.write("</navMap>\n</ncx>")
     f.close()
     return
@@ -213,7 +214,7 @@ def buildOPF(dstdir, title, filelist, cover=None):
                   "xmlns=\"http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf\">\n",
                   "<metadata xmlns:opf=\"http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf\" ",
                   "xmlns:dc=\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\">\n",
-                  "<dc:title>", title, "</dc:title>\n",
+                  "<dc:title>", title.encode('utf-8'), "</dc:title>\n",
                   "<dc:language>en-US</dc:language>\n",
                   "<dc:identifier id=\"BookID\" opf:scheme=\"UUID\">", options.uuid, "</dc:identifier>\n",
                   "<dc:Creator>KCC</dc:Creator>\n",
diff --git a/kcc/comic2panel.py b/kcc/comic2panel.py
index 705dffe..c5ae4db 100644
--- a/kcc/comic2panel.py
+++ b/kcc/comic2panel.py
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ from multiprocessing import Pool, Queue, freeze_support
 try:
     # noinspection PyUnresolvedReferences
     from PIL import Image, ImageStat
+    if tuple(map(int, ('2.2.1'.split(".")))) > tuple(map(int, (Image.PILLOW_VERSION.split(".")))):
+        print "ERROR: Pillow 2.2.1 or newer is required!"
+        exit(1)
 except ImportError:
     print "ERROR: Pillow is not installed!"
     exit(1)
diff --git a/kcc/image.py b/kcc/image.py
index 1e56221..bc3c7fe 100755
--- a/kcc/image.py
+++ b/kcc/image.py
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ import os
 try:
     # noinspection PyUnresolvedReferences
     from PIL import Image, ImageOps, ImageStat, ImageChops
+    if tuple(map(int, ('2.2.1'.split(".")))) > tuple(map(int, (Image.PILLOW_VERSION.split(".")))):
+        print "ERROR: Pillow 2.2.1 or newer is required!"
+        exit(1)
 except ImportError:
     print "ERROR: Pillow is not installed!"
     exit(1)