diff --git a/common/include/Utilities/Path.h b/common/include/Utilities/Path.h
index 351e99d851..f5274c9a8a 100644
--- a/common/include/Utilities/Path.h
+++ b/common/include/Utilities/Path.h
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ public:
 
 	void Clear() { wxFileName::Clear(); }
 
+	wxCharBuffer ToUTF8() const { return GetPath().ToUTF8(); }
 	wxCharBuffer ToAscii() const { return GetPath().ToAscii(); }
 	wxString ToString() const { return GetPath(); }
 
@@ -130,6 +131,7 @@ namespace Path
 
 	extern wxString Normalize( const wxString& srcpath );
 	extern wxString Normalize( const wxDirName& srcpath );
+	extern wxString MakeAbsolute( const wxString& srcpath );
 
 	extern wxString	Combine( const wxString& srcPath, const wxString& srcFile );
 	extern wxString	Combine( const wxDirName& srcPath, const wxFileName& srcFile );
diff --git a/common/src/Utilities/PathUtils.cpp b/common/src/Utilities/PathUtils.cpp
index 800576b76e..668f26df9c 100644
--- a/common/src/Utilities/PathUtils.cpp
+++ b/common/src/Utilities/PathUtils.cpp
@@ -121,6 +121,13 @@ wxString Path::Normalize( const wxDirName& src )
 	return wxDirName(src).Normalize().ToString();
 }
 
+wxString Path::MakeAbsolute( const wxString& src )
+{
+	wxFileName absolute( src );
+	absolute.MakeAbsolute();
+	return absolute.GetFullPath();
+}
+
 // Concatenates two pathnames together, inserting delimiters (backslash on win32)
 // as needed! Assumes the 'dest' is allocated to at least g_MaxPath length.
 //
diff --git a/pcsx2/gui/AppCorePlugins.cpp b/pcsx2/gui/AppCorePlugins.cpp
index 6fb1b1d1a9..ee151560ec 100644
--- a/pcsx2/gui/AppCorePlugins.cpp
+++ b/pcsx2/gui/AppCorePlugins.cpp
@@ -418,6 +418,8 @@ protected:
 
 int EnumeratePluginsInFolder( const wxDirName& searchpath, wxArrayString* dest )
 {
+	if (!searchpath.Exists()) return 0;
+
 	ScopedPtr<wxArrayString> placebo;
 	wxArrayString* realdest = dest;
 	if( realdest == NULL )
@@ -432,8 +434,23 @@ int EnumeratePluginsInFolder( const wxDirName& searchpath, wxArrayString* dest )
 	wxString pattern( L"*%s*" );
 #endif
 
-	return searchpath.Exists() ?
-		wxDir::GetAllFiles( searchpath.ToString(), realdest, wxsFormat( pattern, wxDynamicLibrary::GetDllExt()), wxDIR_FILES ) : 0;
+	wxDir::GetAllFiles( searchpath.ToString(), realdest, pxsFmt( pattern, wxDynamicLibrary::GetDllExt()), wxDIR_FILES );
+	
+	// SECURITY ISSUE:  (applies primarily to Windows, but is a good idea on any platform)
+	//   The search folder order for plugins can vary across operating systems, and in some poorly designed
+	//   cases (old versions of windows), the search order is a security hazard because it does not
+	//   search where you might really expect.  In our case wedo not want *any* searching.  The only
+	//   plugins we want to load are the ones we found in the directly the user specified, so make
+	//   sure all paths are FULLY QUALIFIED ABSOLUTE PATHS.
+	//
+	// (for details, read: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff919712.aspx )
+
+	for (uint i=0; i<realdest->GetCount(); ++i )
+	{
+		(*realdest)[i] = Path::MakeAbsolute((*realdest)[i]);
+	}
+
+	return realdest->GetCount();
 }
 
 // Posts a message to the App to reload plugins.  Plugins are loaded via a background thread
diff --git a/pcsx2/gui/Panels/PluginSelectorPanel.cpp b/pcsx2/gui/Panels/PluginSelectorPanel.cpp
index d4772a462e..57ce696985 100644
--- a/pcsx2/gui/Panels/PluginSelectorPanel.cpp
+++ b/pcsx2/gui/Panels/PluginSelectorPanel.cpp
@@ -634,8 +634,24 @@ void Panels::PluginSelectorPanel::OnConfigure_Clicked( wxCommandEvent& evt )
 
 	if( ConfigureFnptr configfunc = (ConfigureFnptr)dynlib.GetSymbol( tbl_PluginInfo[pid].GetShortname() + L"configure" ) )
 	{
+		
 		wxWindowDisabler disabler;
 		ScopedCoreThreadPause paused_core( new SysExecEvent_SaveSinglePlugin(pid) );
+		if (!CorePlugins.AreLoaded())
+		{
+			typedef void	(CALLBACK* SetDirFnptr)( const char* dir );
+
+			if( SetDirFnptr func = (SetDirFnptr)dynlib.GetSymbol( tbl_PluginInfo[pid].GetShortname() + L"setSettingsDir" ) )
+			{
+				func( GetSettingsFolder().ToUTF8() );
+			}
+
+			if( SetDirFnptr func = (SetDirFnptr)dynlib.GetSymbol( tbl_PluginInfo[pid].GetShortname() + L"setLogDir" ) )
+			{
+				func( GetLogFolder().ToUTF8() );
+			}
+		}
+
 		configfunc();
 	}
 }