How do I tweak Snow Leopard (Finder & Safari) to make it behave more like Tiger?

Question

I've recently upgraded to a Mac Pro 4,1 from a Power Mac G4, and to Mac OS X 10.6.8 from 10.4.11 in the process.
There are a few little ways in which Snow Leopard behaves differently to Tiger, and I'm wondering if (for each item on the list below) anyone has any suggestions on how I can make things behave as I'd like, rather than as they do.
While I'm at it, I've included a couple of things that never behaved as I'd like in Tiger either, but which may also be alterable.
I'd prefer, if possible, solutions that result from simple changes in settings, or perhaps "sudo" commands entered into Terminal, rather than having to install third party software.
Also, I'd appreciate those that choose to reply refrain from suggesting I upgrade to Lion or Mountain Lion. These aren't options I can consider at the moment.
1. In the Finder, clicking Go -> Recent Folders gives the 10 most recently opened folders. Is there a way to change this number?
There isn't an option to do this in the "Appearance" preference pane, where "Number of recent items" can be set for "Applications", "Documents" and "Servers". There's also no option to alter the number of "Recent Folders" in any other preference pane that I can see. I've posted a similar list of questions over at the Macrumors forums, where the one reply I've had so far suggested I use the "General" preference pane, however I don't have one of these. I think "General" was possibly a pane in a much earlier version of Mac OS X?
2. In the Finder, folders on the desktop often don't deselect the way they always did in Tiger. For example, if I double click a folder to open it, the folder's icon highlights. The folder often doesn't deselect / unhighlight though when I then click on the desktop or elsewhere. It often takes 2 or 3 additional clicks for the icon to deselect. Is this a known bug, and can it be fixed? The reply in the Macrumors forum says "It's a known bug, it's even worse in Mountain Lion.".
3. In the Finder, under Preferences, I have "Always open folders in a new window" checked, as I prefer. Often though, I like to hold down the "alt" key when double clicking on a folder to open it, so that the enclosing folder closes at the same time as the folder I'm double clicking on opens, thereby overriding the preference I've set.
In Tiger, the newly opening folder would always open at its previously set size & position. In Snow Leopard though, using the "alt" key causes the newly opening folder to open at the size & position of its enclosing folder instead, not at its previously set size & position.
Worse, the folder then seems to "remember" this incorrect size & position which it takes from its enclosing folder, wiping out its previous (correct) size & position. Is there any way to make things behave like they did in Tiger?
The reply in the Macrumors forum suggested I try "alt - command", but this makes things behave identically to "alt" on its own, as does using "command" on its own.
Only when I don't use any modifier key does the opening window open at its correct size & position, but then without any modifier, the enclosing window remains open (as per my Finder preference selection), and its this preference that I often want to override, but with the newly opening window's correct size & position being maintained.
4. In Safari (version 4.1.3) under Tiger, the "Command-`" keyboard shortcut (that's Command and the key to the left of the "z" key) cycles through each open Safari window in turn, before returning to the original window.
However in Safari (version 5.1.7) on Snow Leopard, this keyboard shortcut seems to work very erratically. For example if I have, say, 8 windows open, the shortcut might only rotate through the 2 or 3 frontmost windows over & over again, rather than through all 8 in order. It might take 5 or 6 cycles of attempts before the rest of the windows appear at the front of the stack. This fault seems to be intermittent though. Is this a known bug, and can it be fixed?
5. When I press "Command-f" in the Finder, a search window opens. I'm having 2 problems with the search window.
Firstly, directly below the field where the search term is to be typed, is the word "Search:" with a row of only 2 buttons to the right. The first is labelled "This Mac" and the second is labelled with the name of the folder that I have set the "New Finder windows open:" preference to in Finder Preferences.
I can't find any way of adding any further locations to this row of only 2 buttons. For example, "Macintosh HD" is in my sidebar, but I can't drag it to the row of buttons to create a new "Macintosh HD" button, nor can I find any other way to make the search only look in specific places (such as only on the "Macintosh HD" disk). I'm stuck with either "This Mac" or with the folder that I've set the "New Finder windows open:" preference to.
How can I select where I want a search to take place? I could do this in Tiger with a couple of mouse clicks.
Secondly, to the right of the 2 search location buttons is a small vertical bar, and then 2 further buttons, labelled "Contents" and "File Name". The "Contents" button is always selected by default. How can I make the "File Name" button the default rather than the "Contents" button?
Many thanks in advance for any input anyone has.

Answer 1

Diamond Dave wrote:
1. In the Finder, clicking Go -> Recent Folders gives the 10 most recently opened folders. Is there a way to change this number?
AFAIK, there's no default setting to change that. Take a look at defaults for Finder.
2. In the Finder, folders on the desktop often don't deselect the way they always did in Tiger. For example, if I double click a folder to open it, the folder's icon highlights. The folder often doesn't deselect / unhighlight though when I then click on the desktop or elsewhere. It often takes 2 or 3 additional clicks for the icon to deselect. Is this a known bug, and can it be fixed?
AFAIK, that's normal behavior. The folder opens and gets focus. To return to the Desktop requires a click to gain focus and the click the Desktop to deselect anything previously selected.
3. In the Finder, under Preferences, I have "Always open folders in a new window" checked, as I prefer. Often though, I like to hold down the "alt" key when double clicking on a folder to open it, so that the enclosing folder closes at the same time as the folder I'm double clicking on opens, thereby overriding the preference I've set.
Still works that way here in SL.
In Tiger, the newly opening folder would always open at its previously set size & position. In Snow Leopard though, using the "alt" key causes the newly opening folder to open at the size & position of its enclosing folder instead, not at its previously set size & position.
Worse, the folder then seems to "remember" this incorrect size & position which it takes from its enclosing folder, wiping out its previous (correct) size & position. Is there any way to make things behave like they did in Tiger?
Nope. You're in the minority, so Apple changed it, since more wanted it that way than the old Tiger way.
4. In Safari (version 4.1.3) under Tiger, the "Command-`" keyboard shortcut (that's Command and the key to the left of the "z" key) cycles through each open Safari window in turn, before returning to the original window.
Can't help, since I normally only use one window and many tabs. Also, I don't see that shortcut. Enable the Debug menu option and peruse Debug->Keyboard & Mouse Shortcuts.
5. When I press "Command-f" in the Finder, a search window opens. I'm having 2 problems with the search window.
Firstly, directly below the field where the search term is to be typed, is the word "Search:" with a row of only 2 buttons to the right. The first is labelled "This Mac" and the second is labelled with the name of the folder that I have set the "New Finder windows open:" preference to in Finder Preferences.
I can't find any way of adding any further locations to this row of only 2 buttons. For example, "Macintosh HD" is in my sidebar, but I can't drag it to the row of buttons to create a new "Macintosh HD" button, nor can I find any other way to make the search only look in specific places (such as only on the "Macintosh HD" disk). I'm stuck with either "This Mac" or with the folder that I've set the "New Finder windows open:" preference to.
How can I select where I want a search to take place? I could do this in Tiger with a couple of mouse clicks.
Not possible. Apple's crippled Spotlight as it's brought the OSs forward. Best is to start your search in the folder you want to search. See Snow Leopard's wrong changes, for starters.
Secondly, to the right of the 2 search location buttons is a small vertical bar, and then 2 further buttons, labelled "Contents" and "File Name". The "Contents" button is always selected by default. How can I make the "File Name" button the default rather than the "Contents" button?
Use CMD+SHIFT+F. Ultimately, I strongly suggest creating a savedSearch with your desired criteria and use it, bypassing CMD+spacebar and CMD+F. This is what I use: