First steps

Windows

1. Run the NBFC installer
2. Start NoteBook FanControl.exe (by default located in C:\Program Files (x86)\NoteBook FanControl)
3. Select a config. As soon as you hit the apply button, NBFC should take control over your notebook’s fans.

There is no additional configuration required. The NBFC service will start automatically. If you want to adjust the selected config according to your needs, edit it in the Config Editor. The various settings are explained here: Structure of a NBFC config file

Linux

1. After you have built NBFC, copy the files from nbfc/Linux/bin/ReleaseLinux/ to /opt/nbfc/
2. To install the NBFC service, copy nbfc/Linux/nbfc.service and nbfc/Linux/nbfc-sleep.service into /etc/systemd/system/
3. To enable and start the service, open a terminal and type systemctl enable nbfc --now
4. (optional) Add /opt/nbfc/ to PATH, so you can call nbfc from anywhere
5. Select a config: nbfc config --apply "name of a config file without extension"

The NBFC service will start automatically. You can use the NBFC CLI (nbfc.exe) to control it.
If you want to completely disable the service, this article will be a good read: systemd: Using units.