diff --git a/BizHawk.Client.Common/PathManager.cs b/BizHawk.Client.Common/PathManager.cs
index a84563484a..9479e05e5c 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Client.Common/PathManager.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Client.Common/PathManager.cs
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.Common
 			//handling of initial .. was removed (Path.GetFullPath can handle it)
 			//handling of file:// or file:\\ was removed  (can Path.GetFullPath handle it? not sure)
 
-			// all pad paths default to EXE
+			// all bad paths default to EXE
 			return GetExeDirectoryAbsolute();
 		}
 
@@ -461,5 +461,19 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.Common
 
 			return entry;
 		}
+
+		/// <summary>
+		/// Puts the currently configured temp path into the environment for use as actual temp directory
+		/// </summary>
+		public static void RefreshTempPath()
+		{
+			if (Global.Config.PathEntries.TempFilesFragment != "")
+			{
+				//TODO - BUG - needs to route through PathManager.MakeAbsolutePath or something similar, but how?
+				string target = Global.Config.PathEntries.TempFilesFragment;
+				BizHawk.Common.TempFileManager.HelperSetTempPath(target);
+			}
+		}
 	}
+
 }
diff --git a/BizHawk.Client.Common/config/Config.cs b/BizHawk.Client.Common/config/Config.cs
index 4dea2406f2..aed9f909d4 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Client.Common/config/Config.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Client.Common/config/Config.cs
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.Common
 		{
 			PathEntries.ResolveWithDefaults();
 			HotkeyBindings.ResolveWithDefaults();
+			PathManager.RefreshTempPath();
 		}
 
 		// Core preference for generic file extension, key: file extension, value: a systemID or empty if no preference
diff --git a/BizHawk.Client.Common/config/PathEntry.cs b/BizHawk.Client.Common/config/PathEntry.cs
index d8e070f950..5182bb28d8 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Client.Common/config/PathEntry.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Client.Common/config/PathEntry.cs
@@ -165,6 +165,8 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.Common
 
 		public string GlobalRomFragment => Global.Config.PathEntries["Global", "ROM"].Path;
 
+		public string TempFilesFragment => Global.Config.PathEntries["Global", "Temp Files"].Path;
+
 		// this one is special
 		public string GlobalBaseFragment => Global.Config.PathEntries["Global", "Base"].Path;
 
@@ -184,6 +186,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.Common
 			new PathEntry { System = "Global_NULL", SystemDisplayName = "Global", Type = "TAStudio states", Path = Path.Combine(".", "Movies", "TAStudio states"), Ordinal = 12 },
 			new PathEntry { System = "Global_NULL", SystemDisplayName = "Global", Type = "Multi-Disk Bundles", Path = Path.Combine(".", ""), Ordinal = 13 },
 			new PathEntry { System = "Global_NULL", SystemDisplayName = "Global", Type = "External Tools", Path = Path.Combine(".", "ExternalTools"), Ordinal = 14 },
+			new PathEntry { System = "Global_NULL", SystemDisplayName = "Global", Type = "Temp Files", Path = "", Ordinal = 15 },
 
 			new PathEntry { System = "INTV", SystemDisplayName = "Intellivision", Type = "Base", Path = Path.Combine(".", "Intellivision"), Ordinal = 0 },
 			new PathEntry { System = "INTV", SystemDisplayName = "Intellivision", Type = "ROM", Path = ".", Ordinal = 1 },
diff --git a/BizHawk.Client.Common/movie/bk2/StringLogs.cs b/BizHawk.Client.Common/movie/bk2/StringLogs.cs
index f2893dc43c..0473ba7cf6 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Client.Common/movie/bk2/StringLogs.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Client.Common/movie/bk2/StringLogs.cs
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.Common
 			_mDisk = disk;
 			if (disk)
 			{
-				var path = TempFileCleaner.GetTempFilename("movieOnDisk");
+				var path = TempFileManager.GetTempFilename("movieOnDisk");
 				stream = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Create, System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemRights.FullControl, FileShare.None, 4 * 1024, FileOptions.DeleteOnClose);
 			}
 			else
diff --git a/BizHawk.Client.Common/rewind/StreamBlobDatabase.cs b/BizHawk.Client.Common/rewind/StreamBlobDatabase.cs
index 24f7d3637e..c5472d7eef 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Client.Common/rewind/StreamBlobDatabase.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Client.Common/rewind/StreamBlobDatabase.cs
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.Common
 			_mCapacity = capacity;
 			if (onDisk)
 			{
-				var path = TempFileCleaner.GetTempFilename("rewindbuf");
+				var path = TempFileManager.GetTempFilename("rewindbuf");
 
 				// I checked the DeleteOnClose operation to make sure it cleans up when the process is aborted, and it seems to.
 				// Otherwise we would have a more complex tempfile management problem here.
diff --git a/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/Program.cs b/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/Program.cs
index 47d97f0f1b..f663f8c31b 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/Program.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/Program.cs
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk
 				}
 			}
 
-			BizHawk.Common.TempFileCleaner.Start();
+			BizHawk.Common.TempFileManager.Start();
 
 
 			HawkFile.ArchiveHandlerFactory = new SevenZipSharpArchiveHandler();
diff --git a/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/config/PathConfig.cs b/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/config/PathConfig.cs
index 8489cd4337..c8eb7ed78e 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/config/PathConfig.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/config/PathConfig.cs
@@ -308,6 +308,9 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk
 		private void Ok_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
 		{
 			SaveSettings();
+
+			PathManager.RefreshTempPath();
+
 			GlobalWin.OSD.AddMessage("Path settings saved");
 			Close();
 		}
diff --git a/BizHawk.Common/InstanceDll.cs b/BizHawk.Common/InstanceDll.cs
index f8e40ea96c..3bd1212e56 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Common/InstanceDll.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Common/InstanceDll.cs
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Common
 		public InstanceDll(string dllPath)
 		{
 			// copy the dll to a temp directory
-			var path = TempFileCleaner.GetTempFilename(string.Format("{0}", Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(dllPath)),".dll",false);
+			var path = TempFileManager.GetTempFilename(string.Format("{0}", Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(dllPath)),".dll",false);
 			using (var stream = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Create, System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemRights.FullControl, FileShare.ReadWrite | FileShare.Delete, 4 * 1024, FileOptions.None))
 			using (var sdll = File.OpenRead(dllPath))
 				sdll.CopyTo(stream);
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Common
 					var lastError = GetLastError();
 					throw new InvalidOperationException($"Failed to load plugin {path}, error code: 0x{lastError:X}");
 				}
-				var newfname = TempFileCleaner.RenameTempFilenameForDelete(path);
+				var newfname = TempFileManager.RenameTempFilenameForDelete(path);
 				File.Move(path, newfname);
 			}
 			finally
diff --git a/BizHawk.Common/TempFileManager.cs b/BizHawk.Common/TempFileManager.cs
index 14252983bf..255ab47a66 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Common/TempFileManager.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Common/TempFileManager.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 using System;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
 using System.Threading;
@@ -10,7 +12,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Common
 	/// Files shouldn't be named that unless they're safe to delete, but notably, they may stil be in use. That won't hurt this component.
 	/// When they're no longer in use, this component will then be able to delete them.
 	/// </summary>
-	public static class TempFileCleaner
+	public static class TempFileManager
 	{
 		// TODO - manage paths other than %temp%, make not static, or allow adding multiple paths to static instance
 
@@ -41,7 +43,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Common
 
 		public static void Start()
 		{
-			lock (typeof(TempFileCleaner))
+			lock (typeof(TempFileManager))
 			{
 				if (thread != null)
 				{
@@ -64,27 +66,49 @@ namespace BizHawk.Common
 
 		static void ThreadProc()
 		{
-			var di = new DirectoryInfo(Path.GetTempPath());
+			//squirrely logic, trying not to create garbage
+			HashSet<string> knownTempDirs = new HashSet<string>();
+			List<DirectoryInfo> dis = new List<DirectoryInfo>();
 			for (;;)
 			{
-				var fis = di.GetFiles("bizdelete-*");
-				foreach (var fi in fis)
+				lock (typeof(TempFileManager))
 				{
+					knownTempDirs.Add(Path.GetTempPath());
+					if (dis.Count != knownTempDirs.Count)
+						dis = knownTempDirs.Select(x => new DirectoryInfo(x)).ToList();
+				}
+
+				foreach(var di in dis)
+				{
+					FileInfo[] fis = null;
 					try
 					{
-						// SHUT. UP. THE. EXCEPTIONS.
-						#if WINDOWS
-						DeleteFileW(fi.FullName);
-						#else
-						fi.Delete();
-						#endif
+						fis = di.GetFiles("bizdelete-*");
 					}
 					catch
 					{
 					}
+					if(fis != null)
+					{
+						foreach (var fi in fis)
+						{
+							try
+							{
+								// SHUT. UP. THE. EXCEPTIONS.
+								#if WINDOWS
+								DeleteFileW(fi.FullName);
+								#else
+								fi.Delete();
+								#endif
+							}
+							catch
+							{
+							}
 
-					// try not to do more than one thing per frame
-					Thread.Sleep(100);
+							// try not to do more than one thing per frame
+							Thread.Sleep(100);
+						}
+					}
 				}
 
 				// try not to slam the filesystem too hard, we dont want this to cause any hiccups
@@ -97,5 +121,13 @@ namespace BizHawk.Common
 		}
 
 		static Thread thread;
+
+		public static void HelperSetTempPath(string path)
+		{
+			//yes... this is how we're doing it, for now, until it's proven to be troublesome
+			Directory.CreateDirectory(path);
+			Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("TMP", path);
+			Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("TEMP", path);
+		}
 	}
 }
\ No newline at end of file