diff --git a/pelican/settings.py b/pelican/settings.py
index 29761f70..45957fd0 100644
--- a/pelican/settings.py
+++ b/pelican/settings.py
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ def handle_deprecated_settings(settings: Settings) -> Settings:
             "EXTRA_TEMPLATES_PATHS is deprecated use THEME_TEMPLATES_OVERRIDES instead."
         )
         if settings.get("THEME_TEMPLATES_OVERRIDES"):
-            raise Exception(
+            raise ValueError(
                 "Setting both EXTRA_TEMPLATES_PATHS and "
                 "THEME_TEMPLATES_OVERRIDES is not permitted. Please move to "
                 "only setting THEME_TEMPLATES_OVERRIDES."
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@ def handle_deprecated_settings(settings: Settings) -> Settings:
         if f + "_REGEX_SUBSTITUTIONS" in settings
     }
     if old_values and new_values:
-        raise Exception(
+        raise ValueError(
             "Setting both {new_key} and {old_key} (or variants thereof) is "
             "not permitted. Please move to only setting {new_key}.".format(
                 old_key="SLUG_SUBSTITUTIONS", new_key="SLUG_REGEX_SUBSTITUTIONS"
@@ -573,7 +573,7 @@ def configure_settings(settings: Settings) -> Settings:
     Also, specify the log messages to be ignored.
     """
     if "PATH" not in settings or not os.path.isdir(settings["PATH"]):
-        raise Exception(
+        raise ValueError(
             "You need to specify a path containing the content"
             " (see pelican --help for more information)"
         )
@@ -590,7 +590,7 @@ def configure_settings(settings: Settings) -> Settings:
         if os.path.exists(theme_path):
             settings["THEME"] = theme_path
         else:
-            raise Exception("Could not find the theme {}".format(settings["THEME"]))
+            raise ValueError("Could not find the theme {}".format(settings["THEME"]))
 
     # Clear CSS_FILE if the file doesn't exist in the theme
     css_file = settings.get("CSS_FILE")
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_generators.py b/pelican/tests/test_generators.py
index 6e9f2be8..f566bc9c 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_generators.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_generators.py
@@ -788,7 +788,9 @@ class TestArticlesGenerator(unittest.TestCase):
             theme=settings["THEME"],
             output_path=None,
         )
-        self.assertRaises(Exception, generator.get_template, "not_a_template")
+        self.assertRaises(
+            PelicanTemplateNotFound, generator.get_template, "not_a_template"
+        )
 
     def test_generate_authors(self):
         """Check authors generation."""
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_settings.py b/pelican/tests/test_settings.py
index 59eebd53..54167e63 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_settings.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_settings.py
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ class TestSettingsConfiguration(unittest.TestCase):
 
         # Check that non-existent theme raises exception
         settings["THEME"] = "foo"
-        self.assertRaises(Exception, configure_settings, settings)
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, configure_settings, settings)
 
     def test_deprecated_dir_setting(self):
         settings = self.settings
@@ -190,17 +190,17 @@ class TestSettingsConfiguration(unittest.TestCase):
         # test that 'PATH' is set
         settings = {}
 
-        self.assertRaises(Exception, configure_settings, settings)
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, configure_settings, settings)
 
         # Test that 'PATH' is valid
         settings["PATH"] = ""
-        self.assertRaises(Exception, configure_settings, settings)
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, configure_settings, settings)
 
         # Test nonexistent THEME
         settings["PATH"] = os.curdir
         settings["THEME"] = "foo"
 
-        self.assertRaises(Exception, configure_settings, settings)
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, configure_settings, settings)
 
     def test__printf_s_to_format_field(self):
         for s in ("%s", "{%s}", "{%s"):
@@ -253,14 +253,14 @@ class TestSettingsConfiguration(unittest.TestCase):
         settings["EXTRA_TEMPLATES_PATHS"] = ["/ha"]
         settings["THEME_TEMPLATES_OVERRIDES"] = ["/foo/bar"]
 
-        self.assertRaises(Exception, handle_deprecated_settings, settings)
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, handle_deprecated_settings, settings)
 
     def test_slug_and_slug_regex_substitutions_exception(self):
         settings = {}
         settings["SLUG_REGEX_SUBSTITUTIONS"] = [("C++", "cpp")]
         settings["TAG_SUBSTITUTIONS"] = [("C#", "csharp")]
 
-        self.assertRaises(Exception, handle_deprecated_settings, settings)
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, handle_deprecated_settings, settings)
 
     def test_deprecated_slug_substitutions(self):
         default_slug_regex_subs = self.settings["SLUG_REGEX_SUBSTITUTIONS"]
diff --git a/pelican/utils.py b/pelican/utils.py
index ee14a031..90d1a3fd 100644
--- a/pelican/utils.py
+++ b/pelican/utils.py
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ def clean_output_dir(path: str, retention: Iterable[str]) -> None:
     if not os.path.isdir(path):
         try:
             os.remove(path)
-        except Exception:
+        except OSError:
             logger.exception("Unable to delete file %s", path)
         return
 
@@ -399,13 +399,13 @@ def clean_output_dir(path: str, retention: Iterable[str]) -> None:
             try:
                 shutil.rmtree(file)
                 logger.debug("Deleted directory %s", file)
-            except Exception:
+            except OSError:
                 logger.exception("Unable to delete directory %s", file)
         elif os.path.isfile(file) or os.path.islink(file):
             try:
                 os.remove(file)
                 logger.debug("Deleted file/link %s", file)
-            except Exception:
+            except OSError:
                 logger.exception("Unable to delete file %s", file)
         else:
             logger.error("Unable to delete %s, file type unknown", file)