[TheMajor]

Why do a lot of people say you should not run Hijackthis from a temp folder?

I don't see the problem.

[Roshi229]

When you run Hijackthis it creates a log file and saves it in notepad. this is the information that we have ppl post here for review.
HJT will save this log file in the same directory as it is located, thus the temp directory... there are other things we may need that log file for later, and having HJT and it's logs in the temp folder is just waiting for the user to clear temp files and loose them...

it's a safety measure to make sure we don't loose the data we're working with while trying to fix the system...

**edit,
it will not affect the performance of HJT or it's ability to do it's job if that's what you're getting at...

[TheMajor]

Oh ok. So its not really that important.

BTW... if somebody posted his log on TF, its hard to loose it

[Roshi229]

ahh, it may be hard to loose this, but there may be a case where we would have to use the log file on thier pc... it can be quite important... lets just say the "schools" i've been attending to learn this have DRILLED that into my head... lol

[southernlady]

Actually I asked the same question cause we had someone who was wanting to not move it...here was the answer I got from an expert:

If you want to try again, you can mention that Temp folders need to be cleaned out to complete a fix and that means that HJT will be deleted as well

So YES, it IS important that it NOT be run out of the temp folders. Liz

[rstones12]

It is always recommended that you run HJT out of it's own directory.
When you clean your temp folders as posted previously it will delete the files.

HJT also creates a back-up so if you need to restore a file you can.

So it is best advised to run HJT in it's own directory.

I always want the user to do this in case of any issues.

[Roshi229]

i see rstones12 has beat me to admitting once again i don't know everything...

as it turns out when you run Hijack this (esp. when you perform any fixes) backup files are made in the same directory. if the user selects the wrong line or fixes on thier own this could cause more damage to the system than good... and the files may need to be restored, from the backup files... it would be very bad to loose those.

and this is the same reason HijackThis can not be run from a CDrom it can't make the backups...
a readonly folder will also cause problems when trying to run Hijack this in that folder...

[rstones12]

No worries, just something I learned as well.

[Roshi229]

lol, ehh the thing that gets me is that i knew that, but forgot when put on the spot... hehe must be the ADD?
j/k