This software is free! If you like it, please visit Manual Labor's Web site at http://www.manual.com/ and keep us in mind for your future technical communications needs. Tell the author, Jerry Kindall, what you think by e-mailing him at kindall@manual.com.
Fast-track installation: Make sure you have a bootable emergency disk besides your usual startup disk in case something goes wrong. Option-drag the Finder from your System Folder to the Desktop, making a copy. Double-click this patcher, then select this new copy of the Finder in the Open dialog. When patching is complete, drag the Finder from the System Folder to the Trash (you won't be able to empty it yet), then drag the modified Finder from the Desktop into the System Folder. Then restart. After restart, verify that the new Finder is working OK, then feel free to empty the Trash to delete the old Finder. Keep a copy of this patcher around in case you ever re-install 8.6. For more details see the Read Me file that came with this patcher. NOTE: Apply only to a copy of the U.S. 8.6 Finder!
Included changes: Increase memory allocation of Finder by about 100K. Change suffix appended to aliases created with the Make Alias command from "alias" to "»" (Command-Option-dragged aliases are unaffected). Change name of new folder from "untitled folder" to "ƒ" (so you can simply hit the left arrow key and start typing a folder name). Eliminate "copy" suffix on files created with the Duplicate command and on duplicate files placed in the Trash (copies of File are numbered: File 1, File 2, etc.). Change "About This Computer" to "About This Macintosh." Replace lame earth graphic in About This Macintosh window with inspirational message. Change font sample to "Jackdaws" pangram. Add Quit Finder command to Special menu. Add keyboard shortcuts (below). NOTE: Applying Jerry's Finder 8 Patch installs all of these changes. There is no way to install only some of them.
New keyboard shortcuts: Command-\ for About This Macintosh. Command-J for Print Desktop or Print Window. Command-1 for View as Icons. Command-2 for View as Buttons. Command-3 for View as List. Command-4 for View as Window. Command-5 for View as Pop-Up Window. Command-K for Clean Up. Command-0 (that's a zero) for View Options. Command-T for Empty Trash. Command-G for Restart. Command-B for Shutdown. NOTE: Command-S and Command-U remain unassigned for the convenience of StuffIt Magic Menu users.
Since this software is free, it is provided without warranty of any kind. The patcher itself is based on Michael Hecht's well-tested ResCompare and it doesn't patch any code resources, so it should be fairly safe, but have an emergency disk handy just in case, and don't delete your old Finder until you are sure the modified one is functioning properly. Ultimately, only you can prevent data loss!
