Bf4 is a move you often have to think carefully about before making. It can become a target for a black pawn on e5 (perhaps initiating a devastating pawn fork if you have a knight on d4!), for a knight on h5, or for black's g5 push. Which is why you'd be better off playing Bg5 or Be3 very often. So those are the general answers, but in concrete terms, it depends on the position! :D Good luck deciphering the mystery of the bishop f4 maneuver!
Advice Please (opening play)
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I have a question regarding best way to handle moving white's bishop to f4 when black has his knight on f4. I always hesitate to make the move because I don't want to lose the bishop to the knight if the knight is moved to h5. Therefore I tend to lose a tempo by first moving my pawn to h3 to give the bishop a place to retreat to.
Is this poor play or does it make sense or should I just give up trying to move the bishop to h4? It seems like it should be something every good player (not me obviously) should know, but I have never seen it addressed.