PROBLEM

SOLUTION

Permissions problems.
This is something no Mac user has ever had problems with before, and is a direct inheritance from OS X's archaic Unix underpinnings. Bad permissions may actually slow down the system, or cause other read/write problems. For example, when copying files to an OS X server, others using OS 9 may not be able to copy or write to the file.

Some file permissions can be fixed by running "Disk Utility". However, some problems have to be fixed manually: If you're having read/write access problems on an X server, the person who first copied the file to the server must "Get Info" on the folder, and change the Group Ownership and Permissions to "Read & Write". If this doesn't work, a server admin will have to fix it for you.

Update: Always fix file permissions from your local drive, not a start-up disk (you only need to do that if you want to repair the hard disk). The Disk Utility that is installed on your local drive probably has the most recent resource updates (from Software Update), and will therefore do a better job of fixing problems. You can test this yourself by fixing file permissions from your boot disk, and then running it again from your local drive.

Update: If you're feeling adventurous, and you're comfortable with UNIX, you can try this global unmask script from Alec Bartsch (I haven't tried this myself).

New Folder bug
Creating a new folder in list view will hilight the name of the folder, but not in "text entry" mode. (The name is hilighted, but you can't begin typing a new name for the folder.) This does not happen with icon or column view.

After creating a new folder (Command-Shift-N), hit Return to hilight the folder name in "text entry" mode.

Update (Feb. 10, 05): This bug has been fixed.

No shortcut for "Bring All to Front"
Although it seems like a good idea, OS X's new method of layering windows regardless of which app you're in can become very annoying. The least Apple could have done is to provide a keyboard shortcut to bring all windows of the current app to the front.

You can turn on Full Keyboard Access (in System Preferences), and access the menu command, but it may take you several clicks before you reach the command.

You could also try using a hot key app.

Update: Although clicking on the desktop will not bring all windows forward, clicking the Finder icon in the Dock will. If no Finder windows are open, using this method will automatically create a window. Also, you can use Command-Tilde (squiqqly line at the top left of your keyboard) to cycle through all windows.

Print Center can't find PPDs
Print Center seems to sometimes look only in a user directory for PPDs by default.

If you've installed PPDs globally (in the Library folder in the main directory), then you may have to manually select them from Print Center.

Update: Seems to have been fixed in 10.2.4.

Connect to Server doesn't allow hilighting by keyboard
If you have a long list of servers in your network, using Connect to Server can be very irritating, because you can't type in the first few letters of the server to hilight it, like you could in OS 9.

Save your frequently used servers in the Connect to Server app's Favourites menu. Or even better, save them in your actual Favourites folder (select the server on your desktop and hit Command-T): That way, you can skip the Connect to Server list and go right to the name/password dialog (if you have guest access to a server, or if you save your passwords in your keychain, it will open immediately).

Update (Feb. 10, 05): In newer versions of OS X, the Favourites folder has been discontinued. But you can still create your own folder, place aliases to servers in it, and place the folder in your Dock to have quick access to all your servers. You can also browse your servers through the "Network" icon in your Finder window's toolbar.