I hear folks complain about missing the old classic Finder from OS 9 after upgrading to OS X. Well, as it turns out, you can use the old Finder in OS X. What you need to do is change the type and creator codes of the Finder and it will launch just like a normal application. I used good ole ResEdit for this task, but you can use any program capable of modifying this setting.
Make a copy of the classic Finder. Get info on the classic Finder via ResEdit (or use your favorite program). Change the TYPE code to 'APPL' and the CREATOR code to something else (I used 'Sys9'). Save the file and you're done.
To avoid a generic icon on our launchable Finder, I copied the Finder icon out of the system finder (resources icl8, icl4, icn#, ics8, ics4, ics# if you're using ResEdit) and pasted them into the Finder's resource fork. I created a BNDL resource and matched the APPL icon to the Finder icon. You must also check "Has BNDL" in the info window for the icon to work.
Note the previous paragraph is not required to get this hack to work. It is merely what I did to improve aesthetics.
With Classic running, you can now double click on your newly hacked Classic Finder application and run a OS 9 Finder right from the Classic enviroment of OS X. This trick even works with Finders dating back to System 7.1! Talk about a Blue Box!
Be aware you will still not see a Finder desktop. You'll have to remember your key commands to open the HD. Press Cmd-Shift-Up Arrow to select the boot drive. Then press cmd-o or cmd-down arrow to open the window. While no windows are open, you may start typing the name of a particular mounted volume in order to select it and use the keys listed above to open it.
[kirkmc adds: I didn't test this. While I'm nostalgic about some things, I don't miss the OS 9 Finder!]
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20061024112009845