diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index e97955e..e121d71 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -19,8 +19,9 @@ jobs:
         os: [ubuntu-latest]
         EXTRA: [false]  # used to force includes to get included
         include:
-          - python-version: '3.7'
-            os: ubuntu-20.04  # oldest version on github actions
+          - python-version: '3.8'
+            # see https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb/blob/main/.github/workflows/Python.yml for duckdb python versions
+            os: ubuntu-22.04  # oldest version on github actions
             EXTRA: true
           - python-version: '3.11'
             os: macos-latest
@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@ jobs:
           - python-version: '3.13'
             os: macos-latest
             EXTRA: true
-          - python-version: '3.7'
+          - python-version: '3.8'
             os: windows-latest
             EXTRA: true
           - python-version: '3.13'
@@ -72,4 +73,5 @@ jobs:
         run: make duck_cloudfront
 
       - name: make wreck_the_warc
+        shell: bash  # or windows will throw an error
         run: make wreck_the_warc
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index bfbe5ae..8d6d7a4 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ wreck_the_warc:
 	@echo we will break and then fix this warc
 	cp whirlwind.warc.gz testing.warc.gz
 	rm -f testing.warc
-	gunzip testing.warc.gz
+	gzip -d testing.warc.gz  # windows gunzip no work-a
 	@echo
 	@echo iterate over this uncompressed warc: works
 	python ./warcio-iterator.py testing.warc
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ wreck_the_warc:
 	python ./warcio-iterator.py testing.warc.gz || /usr/bin/true
 	@echo
 	@echo "now let's do it the right way"
-	gunzip testing.warc.gz
+	gzip -d testing.warc.gz
 	warcio recompress testing.warc testing.warc.gz
 	@echo
 	@echo and now iterating works
diff --git a/duck.py b/duck.py
index f9b8e85..af1c677 100644
--- a/duck.py
+++ b/duck.py
@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@
 import glob
 import json
 import os.path
-import subprocess
 import sys
 import gzip
+import platform
+import io
 
 import duckdb
 
@@ -82,6 +83,10 @@ def get_files(algo, crawl):
 
 
 def main(algo, crawl):
+    windows = True if platform.system() == 'Windows' else False
+    if windows:
+        # windows stdout is often cp1252
+        sys.stdout = io.TextIOWrapper(sys.stdout.buffer, encoding='utf-8')
     files = get_files(algo, crawl)
     retries_left = 100