Overcoming the first can be done by revealing hidden items in the Finder, or using the Finder's 'Go to Folder' option (in the 'Go' menu) to target a file in a hidden system directory however, while these options can be used to show some hidden files, they do not show all of them and do not give you any permissions to edit them. When doing this you will run into two hurdles, the first of which is revealing the hidden files and the second of which is being able to edit them successfully without permissions errors. Often these files can be accessed with simple one-line Terminal commands, as is commonly seen with the 'defaults' command for editing program or service property lists however, at other times you might need to make more extensive edits to a settings file. While in most cases these files being hidden is good for system stability and security, sometimes you may need to access one for troubleshooting purposes or to apply small customizations to the system. Underneath its slick interface, OS X has a number of hidden configuration files that contain the settings for default and standard behaviors.
