Q In Tiger, I was able to insert the following command line string in Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.helpviewer NormalWindow -bool true
which made the Mac Help Viewer window behave more normally instead of always pushing itself to the front. This appears to have been broken since. Is there any way that I can fix this now?

A This was a way of forcing an undocumented customisation in the preference settings for the Help viewer application, which was removed from Snow Leopard. The Property List file is still kept in ~/Library/Preferences under that name, but the XML field which you need to tweak has itself changed. Try using
defaults write com.apple.helpviewer DevMode -bool true

If that does not work, it can be controlled in the friendly GUI tool MacPilot, under Other Features, in the Help Viewer tab. Turning on debug mode is also a good way of helping help work better in many cases.

Updated from the original, which was first published in MacUser volume 26 issue 6, 2009.