For at least the last 2 years, I’ve been telling people to use 360Safe antispyware software if they have the dreaded lurgy, er I mean Windows.

The number one issue people have is that its all in Chinese.

While its fun to say “It’s all Chinese to me”; or as my family back home like to rib me with the perenially popular in South Africa -  “Howzit my China”*, people do have a point.

*Yes, I know thats totally irrelevant, but I had to throw it in somewhere

So, without further ado or waffle masquerading as informative writing, I present to you below:

The Laowai’s Guide to 360 Safe Anti Spyware.

Installation Instructions

First thing to do is to download the software.

Go Visit http://www.360safe.com

You’ll be looking for a link on the page that looks like this:

Click the big green button marked 免费下载 (Free Download)

After a second or three you should be able to run the install software.  It will download the updates, and show you something like this after a few minutes.  Don’t worry that the Chinese is coming up as garbage just yet – we don’t need it.

Click Next (the Big highlighted button with the (N) > above).
Then click the button marked (I)
It will prompt you for where to install the Software.  The default C:\Program Files\360\360Safe is a good choice.
Click (I) again, and it will trundle away for another minute or so, installing.

When it gets to the next part STOP.

Its asking us if we want to install 360 Safe in the startup.  Generally you’ll want to do the American thing, and just say No, so click the bottom selection, and click (N)

Click (N) again on the next screen

The last screen will appear asking us if we want to reboot

If its convenient, reboot, if not don’t.  Doesn’t make a huge amount of difference.

Usage

When you first open up 360 safe, you’ll be presented with a screen looking something like this:

You’ll notice at the bottom things are happening – its downloading updates automatically. (See the 18% above).  You can let it finish downloading updates – this usually takes a few minutes or less.

The first thing to do is to scan the computer for spyware.

Click the 常用 button, then click the second tab.

Then click the Scan link

It might ask you whether you want to download updates first (if you haven’t already).  If so, click the left button to let it complete the download first prior to scanning.

If it needs to download files, a window similar to the one below will appear.  Let it complete downloading, it will disappear automatically once its downloaded its updates.

It should start automatically scanning once its updated.

Assuming the computer is clean, you’ll see nothing in the second tab (as above).

If you have spyware, then it will be listed.  To remove spyware, just check the box next to whatever is listed, and click the button on the left at the bottom.

This is usually enough to clean up a computer.

If you have some more recalcitrant spyware, then you’ll need to go a step further.  Close the previous window, and click the 3rd tab (see below)

Click the obviously placed scan button in the centre of the page.

It will list whats starting up in your computer on the left hand side.

Anything listed in the first row is spyware.  (In the picture above I have zero items listed).
If you find anything, click the checkbox next to the listing, and click the left most button at the bottom of the page.

Thats pretty much the extent of it.

If you have something really nasty, 360Safe will prompt you to download one of its more specialized removal tools.  If that happens, you’re probably better off bringing the computer to someone who knows what they’re doing, as its likely to be a more complicated removal than the average end user is capable of.