quick question

If any files installed by Apple have incorrect flags, they won't be incorrect any more. That's it. The corrections made by disk utility may or may not even matter, but people swear by this "remedy" for all manner of problems real and imagined, because it feels good to believe that something is being done.

On rare occasions, it can actually help matters, but far more often it's a coincidence or placebo effect, much like zapping the PRAM. But it's not going to hurt anything, so repair away

 

that's the best explanation I've heard yet

 

Let's let Apple explain that one

Oh yeah, and if you have an PowerPC Mac, you can also start up Classic and rebuild the desktop, just for old times' sake

 

I actually do that occasionally on the 9.1/10.0.4 partitions on my B&W's and Sawtooth