diff --git a/restartLiveMon.sh b/restartLiveMon.sh
index e6f62a5..843e16e 100755
--- a/restartLiveMon.sh
+++ b/restartLiveMon.sh
@@ -4,8 +4,19 @@
 # if it is killed. 
 # just add this to your crontab:
 # */10 * * * * /home/pi/source/ukmon-pitools/restartLiveMon.sh >/dev/null 2>&1
+force=0
+if [ $# -gt 0 ] 
+then
+    force=1
+fi 
 x=$(ps -ef | grep liveMon |wc -l)
-if [ $x -lt 2 ] 
+if [[ $x -lt 2 || $force -eq 1 ]]
 then 
+    pids=$(ps -ef | grep liveMon | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}')
+    if [ "$pids" != "" ] 
+    then 
+        kill -9 $pids
+    fi 
+    echo "restarting liveMonitor"
     /home/pi/source/ukmon-pitools/liveMonitor.sh >> /home/pi/RMS_data/logs/ukmon-live.log 2>&1 &
 fi
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sendToLive.py b/sendToLive.py
index ab2547e..e3ec87e 100644
--- a/sendToLive.py
+++ b/sendToLive.py
@@ -101,18 +101,22 @@ def singleUpload(cap_dir, dir_file):
         exit(1)
 
     # get credentials
-    with open(os.path.join(myloc, 'live.key'), 'r') as inif:
-        lines = inif.readlines()
-        for li in lines:
-            if 'AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID' in li:
-                awskey = li.split('=')[1].strip()
-            if 'AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY' in li:
-                awssec = li.split('=')[1].strip()
-            if 'AWS_DEFAULT_REGION' in li:
-                awsreg = li.split('=')[1].strip()
-    if awssec is None or awskey is None or awsreg is None:
+    try: 
+        with open(os.path.join(myloc, 'live.key'), 'r') as inif:
+            lines = inif.readlines()
+            for li in lines:
+                if 'AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID' in li:
+                    awskey = li.split('=')[1].strip()
+                if 'AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY' in li:
+                    awssec = li.split('=')[1].strip()
+                if 'AWS_DEFAULT_REGION' in li:
+                    awsreg = li.split('=')[1].strip()
+    except Exception:
         print('unable to locate AWS credentials, aborting')
         exit(1)
+    if awssec is None or awskey is None or awsreg is None:
+        print('credentials file malformed, aborting')
+        exit(1)
 
     conn = boto3.Session(aws_access_key_id=awskey, aws_secret_access_key=awssec, region_name=awsreg) 
     s3 = conn.resource('s3')