Debian :: Reduce Password Entry Frequency?

Question: Installation had me entering my password many times, seemed like for most everything I did during install & setting up the desktops. It was a little frustrating compared to what I was used to with Ubuntu. I know this frequency will reduce once settled in although Linux and "fiddling" go together so some will continue. When using Ubuntu I was able to set that up to bypass some password need, not all. I was hoping there are options for that with Debian but my efforts all day yesterday failed to find any. I am not looking to eliminate password use entirely and I don't expect it to be just like Ubuntu either, however...

My main areas of frequent password use that are new to me with Debian Squeeze are:

1)All partition mounting. Using Ubuntu I edited fstab using a tool called "Storage Device Manager" so that only myself, not "users", had full read-write access to all partitions at boot time. However, none of those fstab codes or any new ones that I tried seemed to work in Squeeze. Besides Squeeze, I have two ntfs and one ext3 partition to access. Example: my music files are on an ntfs partition and I have to enter a password to listen to music.

2)Opening a root nautilus folder. In Ubuntu I made a custom application launcher with "gksu nautilus" and that gives you a no-password one-click access. In Squeeze, I enter a password every time.

3)Reboot & Shutdown. This one surprised me. Every reboot or shutdown requires my password unless I logout first but that adds a step. It may have something to do with a second desktop I installed (kde), I'm not sure. I tried making a script linked to an application launcher that runs "init 0" but that asked for my password too.

I'd like to be able to do 1,2 & 3 above without password entry other than maybe at the main log-in.

About me: This is my first post here, and am trying to be courteous. I checked the DebWiki, Google & this forum for answers. I found a little about ntfs partitions and saved it to a file. My situation is a Debian beginner but using Ubuntu for 7 or 8 months. My technical skills are mid-range. I use Debian on a newer dell laptop with Intel chipset and Intel CPU, triple booting Windows 7, Ubuntu 10.10 and Debian-Sqeeze-di-rc1-amd64. I installed using DVD #1, and made a local repository with DVD 1&2 and added a second kde desktop. Gnome Debian is my favorite now, it runs very well and will probably replace Ubuntu as my primary OS. Everything works that I can tell, except the Software Sources GUI does not load but I go into the source.list file and edit it manually.