diff --git a/src/Vencord.ts b/src/Vencord.ts
index 48ecce97..f18c7347 100644
--- a/src/Vencord.ts
+++ b/src/Vencord.ts
@@ -134,7 +134,11 @@ async function init() {
 
     if (!IS_WEB && !IS_UPDATER_DISABLED) {
         runUpdateCheck();
-        setInterval(runUpdateCheck, 1000 * 60 * 30); // 30 minutes
+
+        // this tends to get really annoying, so only do this if the user has auto-update without notification enabled
+        if (Settings.autoUpdate && !Settings.autoUpdateNotification) {
+            setInterval(runUpdateCheck, 1000 * 60 * 30); // 30 minutes
+        }
     }
 
     if (IS_DEV) {
diff --git a/src/main/updater/common.ts b/src/main/updater/common.ts
index 41b9837c..1a0b8da9 100644
--- a/src/main/updater/common.ts
+++ b/src/main/updater/common.ts
@@ -35,7 +35,10 @@ export function serializeErrors(func: (...args: any[]) => any) {
                 ok: false,
                 error: e instanceof Error ? {
                     // prototypes get lost, so turn error into plain object
-                    ...e
+                    ...e,
+                    message: e.message,
+                    name: e.name,
+                    stack: e.stack
                 } : e
             };
         }
diff --git a/src/main/updater/http.ts b/src/main/updater/http.ts
index 9d42b5c6..a112dde3 100644
--- a/src/main/updater/http.ts
+++ b/src/main/updater/http.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
  * along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
 
-import { get } from "@main/utils/simpleGet";
+import { fetchBuffer, fetchJson } from "@main/utils/http";
 import { IpcEvents } from "@shared/IpcEvents";
 import { VENCORD_USER_AGENT } from "@shared/vencordUserAgent";
 import { ipcMain } from "electron";
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ import { serializeErrors, VENCORD_FILES } from "./common";
 const API_BASE = `https://api.github.com/repos/${gitRemote}`;
 let PendingUpdates = [] as [string, string][];
 
-async function githubGet(endpoint: string) {
-    return get(API_BASE + endpoint, {
+async function githubGet<T = any>(endpoint: string) {
+    return fetchJson<T>(API_BASE + endpoint, {
         headers: {
             Accept: "application/vnd.github+json",
             // "All API requests MUST include a valid User-Agent header.
@@ -46,9 +46,8 @@ async function calculateGitChanges() {
     const isOutdated = await fetchUpdates();
     if (!isOutdated) return [];
 
-    const res = await githubGet(`/compare/${gitHash}...HEAD`);
+    const data = await githubGet(`/compare/${gitHash}...HEAD`);
 
-    const data = JSON.parse(res.toString("utf-8"));
     return data.commits.map((c: any) => ({
         // github api only sends the long sha
         hash: c.sha.slice(0, 7),
@@ -58,9 +57,8 @@ async function calculateGitChanges() {
 }
 
 async function fetchUpdates() {
-    const release = await githubGet("/releases/latest");
+    const data = await githubGet("/releases/latest");
 
-    const data = JSON.parse(release.toString());
     const hash = data.name.slice(data.name.lastIndexOf(" ") + 1);
     if (hash === gitHash)
         return false;
@@ -70,16 +68,20 @@ async function fetchUpdates() {
             PendingUpdates.push([name, browser_download_url]);
         }
     });
+
     return true;
 }
 
 async function applyUpdates() {
-    await Promise.all(PendingUpdates.map(
-        async ([name, data]) => writeFile(
-            join(__dirname, name),
-            await get(data)
-        )
-    ));
+    const fileContents = await Promise.all(PendingUpdates.map(async ([name, url]) => {
+        const contents = await fetchBuffer(url);
+        return [join(__dirname, name), contents] as const;
+    }));
+
+    await Promise.all(fileContents.map(async ([filename, contents]) =>
+        writeFile(filename, contents))
+    );
+
     PendingUpdates = [];
     return true;
 }
diff --git a/src/main/utils/extensions.ts b/src/main/utils/extensions.ts
index 1323bd37..1d7559fb 100644
--- a/src/main/utils/extensions.ts
+++ b/src/main/utils/extensions.ts
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import { join } from "path";
 
 import { DATA_DIR } from "./constants";
 import { crxToZip } from "./crxToZip";
-import { get } from "./simpleGet";
+import { fetchBuffer } from "./http";
 
 const extensionCacheDir = join(DATA_DIR, "ExtensionCache");
 
@@ -69,13 +69,14 @@ export async function installExt(id: string) {
     } catch (err) {
         const url = `https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx?response=redirect&acceptformat=crx2,crx3&x=id%3D${id}%26uc&prodversion=${process.versions.chrome}`;
 
-        const buf = await get(url, {
+        const buf = await fetchBuffer(url, {
             headers: {
                 "User-Agent": `Electron ${process.versions.electron} ~ Vencord (https://github.com/Vendicated/Vencord)`
             }
         });
 
-        await extract(crxToZip(buf), extDir).catch(console.error);
+        await extract(crxToZip(buf), extDir)
+            .catch(err => console.error(`Failed to extract extension ${id}`, err));
     }
 
     session.defaultSession.loadExtension(extDir);
diff --git a/src/main/utils/http.ts b/src/main/utils/http.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..05dbca40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/utils/http.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+/*
+ * Vencord, a modification for Discord's desktop app
+ * Copyright (c) 2022 Vendicated and contributors
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+*/
+
+import { createWriteStream } from "original-fs";
+import { Readable } from "stream";
+import { finished } from "stream/promises";
+
+type Url = string | URL;
+
+export async function checkedFetch(url: Url, options?: RequestInit) {
+    try {
+        var res = await fetch(url, options);
+    } catch (err) {
+        if (err instanceof Error && err.cause) {
+            err = err.cause;
+        }
+
+        throw new Error(`${options?.method ?? "GET"} ${url} failed: ${err}`);
+    }
+
+    if (res.ok) {
+        return res;
+    }
+
+    let message = `${options?.method ?? "GET"} ${url}: ${res.status} ${res.statusText}`;
+    try {
+        const reason = await res.text();
+        message += `\n${reason}`;
+    } catch { }
+
+    throw new Error(message);
+}
+
+export async function fetchJson<T = any>(url: Url, options?: RequestInit) {
+    const res = await checkedFetch(url, options);
+    return res.json() as Promise<T>;
+}
+
+export async function fetchBuffer(url: Url, options?: RequestInit) {
+    const res = await checkedFetch(url, options);
+    const buf = await res.arrayBuffer();
+
+    return Buffer.from(buf);
+}
+
+export async function downloadToFile(url: Url, path: string, options?: RequestInit) {
+    const res = await checkedFetch(url, options);
+    if (!res.body) {
+        throw new Error(`Download ${url}: response body is empty`);
+    }
+
+    // @ts-expect-error weird type conflict
+    const body = Readable.fromWeb(res.body);
+    await finished(body.pipe(createWriteStream(path)));
+}
diff --git a/src/main/utils/simpleGet.ts b/src/main/utils/simpleGet.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 1a8302c0..00000000
--- a/src/main/utils/simpleGet.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Vencord, a modification for Discord's desktop app
- * Copyright (c) 2022 Vendicated and contributors
- *
- * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
- * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
- * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
- * (at your option) any later version.
- *
- * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
- * GNU General Public License for more details.
- *
- * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
- * along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-*/
-
-import https from "https";
-
-export function get(url: string, options: https.RequestOptions = {}) {
-    return new Promise<Buffer>((resolve, reject) => {
-        https.get(url, options, res => {
-            const { statusCode, statusMessage, headers } = res;
-            if (statusCode! >= 400)
-                return void reject(`${statusCode}: ${statusMessage} - ${url}`);
-            if (statusCode! >= 300)
-                return void resolve(get(headers.location!, options));
-
-            const chunks = [] as Buffer[];
-            res.on("error", reject);
-
-            res.on("data", chunk => chunks.push(chunk));
-            res.once("end", () => resolve(Buffer.concat(chunks)));
-        });
-    });
-}