Matt, you can definitely change the things I mentioned in Keyboard Prefs, including shortcuts for copy/paste. You can do it on a per-ap basis or globally, as long as you match the menu names.



When I see it at the bottom of someone's screen it just screams to me that they're a novice computer user. This isn't a Mac OS thing. The task bar at the bottom completely breaks Windows own paradigms.

Not quite the same subject, but I also don't keep the Mac OS dock at the bottom, I keep it on the left, hidden.

Cycling through apps should never cycle through windows. That, like in Windows, would be useless and a complete PITA, IMO. I much pref being able to cycle apps and cycle windows of the current app independently. You can also use Spaces and the Expose to manipulate windows.

Finder is the Mac OS file navigator, the same thing Explorer is in Windows. PathFinder, a third-party "app" is a replacement that is better than both Finder and Windows Explorer. You should check it out.

Minimizing a window is almost always the wrong thing to do to accomplish what you've described. You should instead HIDE the app if you want to get it out of the way. CMD-H. Or use the Expose features to reveal the desktop when you need it and don't want to hide an app.

Switching apps will always put that app in the foreground and if it has open windows, they too will be in the foreground and active for input. If you hide an app, it will unhide and be ready for input. If you minimize a window, then that specific window will stay minimized.

There may be a way to reveal minimized windows with the keyboard, but I don't know what it is off hand because I don't use that functionality.