Can I put a quit button on Finder?

Question

I've got a Mac, and I was wondering if, to speed up other functions, if I can quit Finder, but keep my other applications running with no harm to the computer. And if I can, how do I add a quit button to the drop menu?

Answer 1

defaults write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem YES

That's what you type into Terminal to add a quit to the Finder (have to restart in order to work). Doesn't add it in the Dock.
You might have to go to ~ in order for it to work.

Also there's 3rd party software such as Ultimate Task
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/ultimatetask.html