diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-mingw.yml b/.github/workflows/test-mingw.yml
index a1d6ba61c9b..bb6d7dc373e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-mingw.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-mingw.yml
@@ -66,9 +66,9 @@ jobs:
               mingw-w64-x86_64-libtiff \
               mingw-w64-x86_64-libwebp \
               mingw-w64-x86_64-openjpeg2 \
-              mingw-w64-x86_64-python3-numpy \
-              mingw-w64-x86_64-python3-olefile \
-              mingw-w64-x86_64-python3-pip \
+              mingw-w64-x86_64-python-numpy \
+              mingw-w64-x86_64-python-olefile \
+              mingw-w64-x86_64-python-pip \
               mingw-w64-x86_64-python-pytest \
               mingw-w64-x86_64-python-pytest-cov \
               mingw-w64-x86_64-python-pytest-timeout \
diff --git a/Tests/helper.py b/Tests/helper.py
index 577e32d37af..5fcf3f80ee7 100644
--- a/Tests/helper.py
+++ b/Tests/helper.py
@@ -141,19 +141,12 @@ def assert_image_similar_tofile(
     filename: str,
     epsilon: float,
     msg: str | None = None,
-    mode: str | None = None,
 ) -> None:
     img: Image.Image
     with Image.open(filename) as img:
-        if mode:
-            img = img.convert(mode)
         assert_image_similar(a, img, epsilon, msg)
 
 
-def assert_all_same(items: Sequence[Any], msg: str | None = None) -> None:
-    assert items.count(items[0]) == len(items), msg
-
-
 def assert_not_all_same(items: Sequence[Any], msg: str | None = None) -> None:
     assert items.count(items[0]) != len(items), msg
 
diff --git a/Tests/test_file_apng.py b/Tests/test_file_apng.py
index 38397997419..6b87cbda32f 100644
--- a/Tests/test_file_apng.py
+++ b/Tests/test_file_apng.py
@@ -341,14 +341,9 @@ def test_apng_syntax_errors() -> None:
             im.load()
 
     # we can handle this case gracefully
-    exception = None
     with Image.open("Tests/images/apng/syntax_num_frames_low.png") as im:
         assert isinstance(im, PngImagePlugin.PngImageFile)
-        try:
-            im.seek(im.n_frames - 1)
-        except Exception as e:
-            exception = e
-        assert exception is None
+        im.seek(im.n_frames - 1)
 
     with pytest.raises(OSError):
         with Image.open("Tests/images/apng/syntax_num_frames_high.png") as im:
@@ -448,14 +443,8 @@ def test_apng_save_split_fdat(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
         )
     with Image.open(test_file) as im:
         assert isinstance(im, PngImagePlugin.PngImageFile)
-
-        exception = None
-        try:
-            im.seek(im.n_frames - 1)
-            im.load()
-        except Exception as e:
-            exception = e
-        assert exception is None
+        im.seek(im.n_frames - 1)
+        im.load()
 
 
 def test_apng_save_duration_loop(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
diff --git a/Tests/test_file_iptc.py b/Tests/test_file_iptc.py
index 89c45d77bee..e0b3e353304 100644
--- a/Tests/test_file_iptc.py
+++ b/Tests/test_file_iptc.py
@@ -58,10 +58,7 @@ def test_getiptcinfo_fotostation() -> None:
 
     # Assert
     assert iptc is not None
-    for tag in iptc.keys():
-        if tag[0] == 240:
-            return
-    pytest.fail("FotoStation tag not found")
+    assert 240 in (tag[0] for tag in iptc.keys()), "FotoStation tag not found"
 
 
 def test_getiptcinfo_zero_padding() -> None:
diff --git a/Tests/test_file_jpeg2k.py b/Tests/test_file_jpeg2k.py
index e145c18eba3..2d2f3853055 100644
--- a/Tests/test_file_jpeg2k.py
+++ b/Tests/test_file_jpeg2k.py
@@ -497,8 +497,7 @@ def test_plt_marker(card: ImageFile.ImageFile) -> None:
     out.seek(0)
     while True:
         marker = out.read(2)
-        if not marker:
-            pytest.fail("End of stream without PLT")
+        assert marker, "End of stream without PLT"
 
         jp2_boxid = _binary.i16be(marker)
         if jp2_boxid == 0xFF4F:
diff --git a/Tests/test_file_libtiff.py b/Tests/test_file_libtiff.py
index 43b0d90163f..8ce3f956215 100644
--- a/Tests/test_file_libtiff.py
+++ b/Tests/test_file_libtiff.py
@@ -45,11 +45,7 @@ def _assert_noerr(self, tmp_path: Path, im: ImageFile.ImageFile) -> None:
         im.getdata()
 
         assert isinstance(im, TiffImagePlugin.TiffImageFile)
-        try:
-            assert im._compression == "group4"
-        except AttributeError:
-            print("No _compression")
-            print(dir(im))
+        assert im._compression == "group4"
 
         # can we write it back out, in a different form.
         out = str(tmp_path / "temp.png")
diff --git a/Tests/test_image.py b/Tests/test_image.py
index 229a01b0c69..9d2e825c382 100644
--- a/Tests/test_image.py
+++ b/Tests/test_image.py
@@ -189,8 +189,6 @@ def test_pathlib(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
                 if ext == ".jp2" and not features.check_codec("jpg_2000"):
                     pytest.skip("jpg_2000 not available")
                 temp_file = str(tmp_path / ("temp." + ext))
-                if os.path.exists(temp_file):
-                    os.remove(temp_file)
                 im.save(Path(temp_file))
 
     def test_fp_name(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
diff --git a/Tests/test_image_access.py b/Tests/test_image_access.py
index bb30b462d2f..6d8b4d35579 100644
--- a/Tests/test_image_access.py
+++ b/Tests/test_image_access.py
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ def test_putpixel_overflow_error(self, mode: str) -> None:
 
 
 class TestEmbeddable:
-    @pytest.mark.xfail(reason="failing test")
+    @pytest.mark.xfail(not (sys.version_info >= (3, 13)), reason="failing test")
     @pytest.mark.skipif(not is_win32(), reason="requires Windows")
     def test_embeddable(self) -> None:
         import ctypes
diff --git a/src/PIL/SpiderImagePlugin.py b/src/PIL/SpiderImagePlugin.py
index 1cb0fad16cb..4b16b81f21c 100644
--- a/src/PIL/SpiderImagePlugin.py
+++ b/src/PIL/SpiderImagePlugin.py
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ def makeSpiderHeader(im: Image.Image) -> list[bytes]:
 
 
 def _save(im: Image.Image, fp: IO[bytes], filename: str | bytes) -> None:
-    if im.mode[0] != "F":
+    if im.mode != "F":
         im = im.convert("F")
 
     hdr = makeSpiderHeader(im)