360 Safeguard's focus is on stopping malware such as computer viruses and trojan horses and providing security patches for Microsoft Windows.

In response, Tencent called 360 itself malware and denied users with 360 installed access to some QQ services.

[3] The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information reprimanded both companies for "improper competition" and ordered them to come to an accord.

[4] On 30 April 2015, the three independent security testing bodies AV-Comparatives, AV-TEST and Virus Bulletin published a joint press release criticizing Qihoo 360 after they found that Qihoo 360 had submitted products for comparative which behaved significantly different from end user products.

The testing bodies claimed that the end user products would provide a considerably lower level of protection and a higher likelihood of false positives.