[jimtorr]

I’m still reluctant to try 10.5 again.

I upgraded a few months ago, and most of my applications lost their preference files. I had to hunt down most of my serial numbers, and never did find some of them. I couldn’t burn DVDs in Toast 7, and Photoshop Elements 4.0 would not work. It suddenly took 20 minutes to fix permissions, instead of 90 seconds.

When I restored 10.4, everything was right with the world again. All of my pref files returned, along with the serial numbers, and all of my applications worked.

I am reluctant to try 10.5 again.

[Swordmaker]

I upgraded a few months ago, and most of my applications lost their preference files. I had to hunt down most of my serial numbers, and never did find some of them. I couldn’t burn DVDs in Toast 7, and Photoshop Elements 4.0 would not work. It suddenly took 20 minutes to fix permissions, instead of 90 seconds.

Sounds like you did a clean install... archiving the previous installation including preferences and the like. It does require you move some preferences into the new install.