diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
index 151d4376c..14461b1b2 100644
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -6,6 +6,31 @@ This is the master changelog for Elite Dangerous Market Connector.  Entries are
       in the source (not distributed with the Windows installer) for the
       currently used version.
 ---
+Pre-Release 5.12.1-rc4
+===
+
+This is a release candidate for 5.12.1. It has been pushed to the "Beta" track for updates!
+
+This release continues to refine fixes for with EDMC authentication.
+
+**Changes and Enhancements**
+* Fixed a typo in the prior release notes
+
+**Bug Fixes**
+* Fixed a bug where the EDMC System Profiler wouldn't load details properly
+* Reverted a number of usages of Pathlib back to os.path for further validation testing
+* Fixed a bug where EDMC would error out with a max() ValueError
+* Fixed an issue where the EDMC protocol wouldn't be processed properly via prototyping
+
+**Plugin Developers**
+* nb.Entry is deprecated, and is slated for removal in 6.0 or later. Please migrate to nb.EntryMenu
+* nb.ColoredButton is deprecated, and is slated for removal in 6.0 or later. Please migrate to tk.Button
+* Calling internal translations with `_()` is deprecated, and is slated for removal in 6.0 or later. Please migrate to importing `translations` and calling `translations.translate` or `translations.tl` directly
+* `Translations` as the translate system singleton is deprecated, and is slated for removal in 6.0 or later. Please migrate to the `translations` singleton
+* `help_open_log_folder()` is deprecated, and is slated for removal in 6.0 or later. Please migrate to open_folder()
+* `update_feed` is deprecated, and is slated for removal in 6.0 or later. Please migrate to `get_update_feed()`.
+
+
 Pre-Release 5.12.1-rc2
 ===
 
diff --git a/config/__init__.py b/config/__init__.py
index d9ff3b796..c896b2f88 100644
--- a/config/__init__.py
+++ b/config/__init__.py
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
 # <https://semver.org/#semantic-versioning-specification-semver>
 # Major.Minor.Patch(-prerelease)(+buildmetadata)
 # NB: Do *not* import this, use the functions appversion() and appversion_nobuild()
-_static_appversion = '5.12.1-rc2'
+_static_appversion = '5.12.1-rc4'
 _cached_version: semantic_version.Version | None = None
 copyright = '© 2015-2019 Jonathan Harris, 2020-2024 EDCD'
 
diff --git a/protocol.py b/protocol.py
index f1c1e0c7b..01be09de8 100644
--- a/protocol.py
+++ b/protocol.py
@@ -77,8 +77,6 @@ def event(self, url: str) -> None:
         MSG, UINT, WPARAM
     )
     import win32gui
-    import win32con
-    import win32api
 
     class WNDCLASS(Structure):
         """
@@ -108,13 +106,6 @@ class WNDCLASS(Structure):
     CreateWindowExW.restype = HWND
     RegisterClassW = windll.user32.RegisterClassW
     RegisterClassW.argtypes = [POINTER(WNDCLASS)]
-    # DefWindowProcW
-    # Ref: <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/winuser/nf-winuser-defwindowprocw>
-    # LRESULT DefWindowProcW([in] HWND   hWnd,[in] UINT   Msg,[in] WPARAM wParam,[in] LPARAM lParam);
-    # As per example at <https://docs.python.org/3/library/ctypes.html#ctypes.WINFUNCTYPE>
-
-    prototype = WINFUNCTYPE(c_long, HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM)
-    paramflags = (1, "hWnd"), (1, "Msg"), (1, "wParam"), (1, "lParam")
 
     GetParent = windll.user32.GetParent
     SetForegroundWindow = windll.user32.SetForegroundWindow
@@ -385,7 +376,7 @@ def do_GET(self) -> None:  # noqa: N802 # Required to override
             if self.parse():
                 self.send_header('Content-Type', 'text/html')
                 self.end_headers()
-                self.wfile.write(self._generate_auth_response().encode('utf-8'))
+                self.wfile.write(self._generate_auth_response().encode())
             else:
                 self.send_response(404)
                 self.end_headers()