Read the rest of the article for a quick how-to on editing Finder shortcuts...
[Editor's caution: Although not overly difficult, if you're not yet comfortable with the terminal, root privileges, and UNIX file permissions, I would recommend holding off on this hint. You do not want to mess up key files used by the Finder! I have not tried this hint myself.]
The Finder shortcuts are stored in a 'Localized.rsrc' file, and that is in binary format, so you will need HexEdit or another hex editor. You can change the shortcuts in this way:
- Open a terminal window and become the root user by typing su. Enter your root password when asked.
- CD to the location of the file and make a backup for safekeeping:
% cd /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app
% cd /Contents/Resources/English.lproj/
cp Localized.rsrc Localized.bak - Copy the file to another location so you can modify on the copy:
cp Localized.rsrc ~/Desktop/
- Modify the permissions on the desktop copy of the file:
chmod 777 ~/Desktop/Localized.rsrc
- Leave the terminal window open and then switch to the Finder and open the file in HexEdit to search (command+F) for the command you want to change.
- Replace the value with a key you wish to use; values will look something like this:
New Finder Window . N
Replace the character(s) after the shortcut name(s) with the one(s) you like.
- Save the file & switch back to the terminal then copy and overwrite the original while resetting the permissions:
cp ~/Desktop/Localized.rsrc Localized.rsrc
chmod 644 Localized.rsrc - Log out or restart the machine

