diff --git a/couchpotato/core/_base/updater/main.py b/couchpotato/core/_base/updater/main.py
index f229121..279cadd 100644
--- a/couchpotato/core/_base/updater/main.py
+++ b/couchpotato/core/_base/updater/main.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from couchpotato.api import addApiView
 from couchpotato.core.event import addEvent, fireEvent, fireEventAsync
+from couchpotato.core.helpers.encoding import ss
 from couchpotato.core.helpers.request import jsonified
 from couchpotato.core.logger import CPLog
 from couchpotato.core.plugins.base import Plugin
@@ -120,7 +121,7 @@ class BaseUpdater(Plugin):
 
     def deletePyc(self, only_excess = True):
 
-        for root, dirs, files in os.walk(Env.get('app_dir')):
+        for root, dirs, files in os.walk(ss(Env.get('app_dir'))):
 
             pyc_files = filter(lambda filename: filename.endswith('.pyc'), files)
             py_files = set(filter(lambda filename: filename.endswith('.py'), files))
@@ -269,7 +270,7 @@ class SourceUpdater(BaseUpdater):
         return False
 
     def replaceWith(self, path):
-        app_dir = Env.get('app_dir')
+        app_dir = ss(Env.get('app_dir'))
 
         # Get list of files we want to overwrite
         self.deletePyc(only_excess = False)
diff --git a/couchpotato/core/helpers/encoding.py b/couchpotato/core/helpers/encoding.py
index 8ea0d5e..9b1f575 100644
--- a/couchpotato/core/helpers/encoding.py
+++ b/couchpotato/core/helpers/encoding.py
@@ -35,6 +35,10 @@ def toUnicode(original, *args):
         ascii_text = str(original).encode('string_escape')
         return toUnicode(ascii_text)
 
+def ss(original, *args):
+    from couchpotato.environment import Env
+    return toUnicode(original, *args).encode(Env.get('encoding'))
+
 def ek(original, *args):
     if isinstance(original, (str, unicode)):
         try:
diff --git a/couchpotato/core/logger.py b/couchpotato/core/logger.py
index 7075243..1f5206a 100644
--- a/couchpotato/core/logger.py
+++ b/couchpotato/core/logger.py
@@ -34,34 +34,30 @@ class CPLog(object):
 
     def safeMessage(self, msg, replace_tuple = ()):
 
-        if not hasattr(self, 'Env'):
-            from couchpotato.environment import Env
-            from couchpotato.core.helpers.encoding import toUnicode
+        from couchpotato.environment import Env
+        from couchpotato.core.helpers.encoding import ss
 
-            self.Env = Env
-            self.toUnicode = toUnicode
-
-        msg = self.toUnicode(msg)
+        msg = ss(msg)
 
         try:
             msg = msg % replace_tuple
         except:
             try:
                 if isinstance(replace_tuple, tuple):
-                    msg = msg % tuple([self.toUnicode(x).encode(self.Env.get('encoding')) for x in list(replace_tuple)])
+                    msg = msg % tuple([ss(x) for x in list(replace_tuple)])
                 else:
-                    msg = msg % self.toUnicode(replace_tuple).encode(self.Env.get('encoding'))
+                    msg = msg % ss(replace_tuple)
             except:
                 self.error('Failed encoding stuff to log: %s' % traceback.format_exc())
 
-        if not self.Env.get('dev'):
+        if not Env.get('dev'):
 
             for replace in self.replace_private:
                 msg = re.sub('(%s=)[^\&]+' % replace, '%s=xxx' % replace, msg)
 
             # Replace api key
             try:
-                api_key = self.Env.setting('api_key')
+                api_key = Env.setting('api_key')
                 if api_key:
                     msg = msg.replace(api_key, 'API_KEY')
             except:
diff --git a/couchpotato/core/plugins/scanner/main.py b/couchpotato/core/plugins/scanner/main.py
index 5e6e02f..04e7516 100644
--- a/couchpotato/core/plugins/scanner/main.py
+++ b/couchpotato/core/plugins/scanner/main.py
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 from couchpotato import get_session
 from couchpotato.core.event import fireEvent, addEvent
-from couchpotato.core.helpers.encoding import toUnicode, simplifyString
+from couchpotato.core.helpers.encoding import toUnicode, simplifyString, ss
 from couchpotato.core.helpers.variable import getExt, getImdb, tryInt
 from couchpotato.core.logger import CPLog
 from couchpotato.core.plugins.base import Plugin
 from couchpotato.core.settings.model import File, Movie
-from couchpotato.environment import Env
 from enzyme.exceptions import NoParserError, ParseError
 from guessit import guess_movie_info
 from subliminal.videos import Video
@@ -133,7 +132,7 @@ class Scanner(Plugin):
 
     def scan(self, folder = None, files = [], simple = False, newer_than = 0):
 
-        folder = os.path.normpath(folder)
+        folder = ss(os.path.normpath(folder))
 
         if not folder or not os.path.isdir(folder):
             log.error('Folder doesn\'t exists: %s', folder)
@@ -147,19 +146,11 @@ class Scanner(Plugin):
         if len(files) == 0:
             try:
                 files = []
-                for root, dirs, walk_files in os.walk(toUnicode(folder)):
+                for root, dirs, walk_files in os.walk(folder):
                     for filename in walk_files:
                         files.append(os.path.join(root, filename))
             except:
-                try:
-                    files = []
-                    folder = toUnicode(folder).encode(Env.get('encoding'))
-                    log.info('Trying to convert unicode to str path: %s, %s', (folder, type(folder)))
-                    for root, dirs, walk_files in os.walk(folder):
-                        for filename in walk_files:
-                            files.append(os.path.join(root, filename))
-                except:
-                    log.error('Failed getting files from %s: %s', (folder, traceback.format_exc()))
+                log.error('Failed getting files from %s: %s', (folder, traceback.format_exc()))
 
         db = get_session()