diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index b773473f..4933c13f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         pg: ['14', '15', '16', '17', '18']
-        go: ['1.21', '1.25']
+        go: ['1.21', '1.26']
     steps:
     - uses: 'actions/checkout@v6'
     - uses: 'actions/setup-go@v6'
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ jobs:
     steps:
     - uses: 'actions/checkout@v6'
     - uses: 'actions/setup-go@v6'
-      with: {go-version: '1.25'}
+      with: {go-version: '1.26'}
     - name: 'Start PostgreSQL'
       run: |
         docker compose up pg18 -d --wait || {
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ jobs:
   #  steps:
   #  - uses: 'actions/checkout@v6'
   #  - uses: 'actions/setup-go@v6'
-  #    with: {go-version: '1.25'}
+  #    with: {go-version: '1.26'}
   #  - name: 'Start PostgreSQL'
   #    run: |
   #      docker compose up pg18 -d --wait || {
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ jobs:
   #    fail-fast: false
   #    matrix:
   #      pg: ['18']
-  #      go: ['1.18', '1.25']
+  #      go: ['1.18', '1.26']
   #  steps:
   #  - uses: 'actions/checkout@v6'
   #  - uses: 'douglascamata/setup-docker-macos-action@v1'
@@ -138,9 +138,9 @@ jobs:
   #  strategy:
   #    fail-fast: false
   #    matrix:
-  #      #go: ['1.18', '1.25']
+  #      #go: ['1.18', '1.26']
   #      pg: ['18']
-  #      go: ['1.25']
+  #      go: ['1.26']
   #  steps:
   #  - uses: 'actions/checkout@v6'
   #  - uses: 'Vampire/setup-wsl@v6'
diff --git a/array.go b/array.go
index 910f335e..8164d5da 100644
--- a/array.go
+++ b/array.go
@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ FoundType:
 func (a GenericArray) Scan(src any) error {
 	dpv := reflect.ValueOf(a.A)
 	switch {
-	case dpv.Kind() != reflect.Ptr:
+	case dpv.Kind() != reflect.Pointer:
 		return fmt.Errorf("pq: destination %T is not a pointer to array or slice", a.A)
 	case dpv.IsNil():
 		return fmt.Errorf("pq: destination %T is nil", a.A)
diff --git a/conn.go b/conn.go
index b1cf83cd..a28803fb 100644
--- a/conn.go
+++ b/conn.go
@@ -831,7 +831,7 @@ func (cn *conn) CheckNamedValue(nv *driver.NamedValue) error {
 		return driver.ErrSkip
 	}
 	t := v.Type()
-	for t.Kind() == reflect.Ptr {
+	for t.Kind() == reflect.Pointer {
 		t, v = t.Elem(), v.Elem()
 	}
 
diff --git a/encode_test.go b/encode_test.go
index 5ad2d429..b99293e6 100644
--- a/encode_test.go
+++ b/encode_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"database/sql"
 	"fmt"
 	"regexp"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -641,7 +642,7 @@ func TestTextByteSliceToInt(t *testing.T) {
 	db := pqtest.MustDB(t)
 
 	expected := 12345678
-	b := []byte(fmt.Sprintf("%d", expected))
+	b := fmt.Appendf(nil, "%d", expected)
 	row := db.QueryRow("SELECT $1::int", b)
 
 	var result int
@@ -879,21 +880,21 @@ func TestFormatAndParseTimestamp(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func BenchmarkAppendEscapedText(b *testing.B) {
-	longString := ""
+	var longString strings.Builder
 	for i := 0; i < 100; i++ {
-		longString += "123456789\n"
+		longString.WriteString("123456789\n")
 	}
 	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
-		appendEscapedText(nil, longString)
+		appendEscapedText(nil, longString.String())
 	}
 }
 
 func BenchmarkAppendEscapedTextNoEscape(b *testing.B) {
-	longString := ""
+	var longString strings.Builder
 	for i := 0; i < 100; i++ {
-		longString += "1234567890"
+		longString.WriteString("1234567890")
 	}
 	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
-		appendEscapedText(nil, longString)
+		appendEscapedText(nil, longString.String())
 	}
 }
diff --git a/error.go b/error.go
index 234d39e2..be704e92 100644
--- a/error.go
+++ b/error.go
@@ -564,10 +564,7 @@ func posToLine(pos int, lines []string) (line, col int) {
 		line++
 		ll := utf8.RuneCountInString(lines[i]) + 1 // +1 for the removed newline
 		if read+ll >= pos {
-			col = pos - read
-			if col < 1 { // Should never happen, but just in case.
-				col = 1
-			}
+			col = max(pos-read, 1) // Should be lower than 1, but just in case.
 			break
 		}
 		read += ll
diff --git a/internal/pqtest/ztest.go b/internal/pqtest/ztest.go
index 80c443da..d5a8685d 100644
--- a/internal/pqtest/ztest.go
+++ b/internal/pqtest/ztest.go
@@ -82,10 +82,10 @@ func NormalizeIndent(in string) string {
 		indent++
 	}
 
-	r := ""
+	var r strings.Builder
 	for _, line := range strings.Split(in, "\n") {
-		r += strings.Replace(line, "\t", "", indent) + "\n"
+		r.WriteString(strings.Replace(line, "\t", "", indent) + "\n")
 	}
 
-	return strings.TrimSpace(r)
+	return strings.TrimSpace(r.String())
 }