diff --git a/mystic/abstract_solver.py b/mystic/abstract_solver.py
index b4dbb3c..e6fe769 100755
--- a/mystic/abstract_solver.py
+++ b/mystic/abstract_solver.py
@@ -557,7 +557,7 @@ def SetMultinormalInitialPoints(self, mean, var=None):
         else:
             try: # scalar ?
                 float(var)
-            except: # nope. var better be matrix of the right size (no check)
+            except (TypeError, ValueError): # nope. var better be matrix of the right size (no check)
                 pass
             else:
                 var = var * numpy.eye(self.nDim)
diff --git a/mystic/constraints.py b/mystic/constraints.py
index edcd616..aa68161 100644
--- a/mystic/constraints.py
+++ b/mystic/constraints.py
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ def issolution(constraints, guess, tol=1e-3):
     else: # is a constraints solver
         try:
             constrained = guess.copy()
-        except:
+        except AttributeError:
             from copy import deepcopy
             constrained = deepcopy(guess)
         error = 0.0
diff --git a/mystic/monitors.py b/mystic/monitors.py
index a54daa6..c7dd2d0 100644
--- a/mystic/monitors.py
+++ b/mystic/monitors.py
@@ -640,7 +640,7 @@ def _load(path, monitor=None, verbose=False): #XXX: duplicate in mystic.munge?
         params = _globals['___params'] if '___params' in _globals else None
         cost = _globals['___cost'] if '___cost' in _globals else None
         del _globals
-    except: #XXX: should only catch the appropriate exceptions
+    except Exception: #XXX: should only catch the appropriate exceptions
         raise OSError("error reading '{path}'".format(path=path))
 
     finally: