Need some sneaking help...

[Frogmander]

1. Is having light armor on any different then some enchanted cloth?
2. Swords or daggers.
3. If I remove my boots does the rest of my armor matter?
4. How many points should I invent in my +20/40/60/80/100% sneak skill before heading off to do my other perks?
5. Bow vs Melee
6. How do the sneak finishers work? I heard it was like "If it would of one shot, then it does a finisher"

[urthdigger]

I'd say sword over dagger, unless you have the perk to deal 15x damage criticals with daggers, then use daggers. As far as armor goes for sneaking, I really have no idea, but I'd assume light armor makes more noise than cloth, and that more than just your boots matter (I know only boots mattered in Oblivion, but they changed stuff around, and you can hear your armor rub together as you walk). As far as the first perk versus other perks go, I think it all depends on whether those new perks are worth more to you than increased chance to avoid detection. I should note the initial perk does have level requirements for every rank past the first, so what I do is I level up the first perk primarily, and add new perks as I unlock them.

[Mac of Four Winds]

As far as finishers go, for me it has been random. I normally don't get them with power attacks. Just a random swing will do it.

[Apollo]

I mainly use sneak in all combat situations (dungeons, hideouts, even some "boss fights", etc.). Armor supposedly makes more noise (there's a perk to partly fix that problem) but I actually never had problems with enemies hearing me while wearing full light armor. On the other hand: I mainly use my bow so I don't have to get too close. I've unlocked the right side of the sneak perk tree (up to Assassin's Blade) and a lot of the Archery tree. My main tactic is to shoot an arrow and draw back a little if there are multiple targets or if it wasn't a one hit kill until I'm "HIDDEN" again. With a great bow and the times three bonus, it's really satisfying.

I would choose bow over melee, but then again the whole focus of my character is bow (I've hardly spent a point on armor, magic, block or melee).

Alternatively, you could wear clothes instead of armor when sneaking and instantly switch out when detected, it's not like there's a penalty for opening your menu. As far as I know, just removing your boots when sneaking doesn't work anymore.

I sometimes use a dagger to finish of a single enemy (I have the times fifteen perk) and I get the sneak finisher (i.e. a knife to the throat) every time, so it probably has something to do with one hit silent kills.

[urthdigger]

I've had experience doing melee sneak attacks, and it is fairly difficult at lower skill. It helps to either not move at all, or walk. The trick to stabbing them while not moving is to make SOME movement so they notice something's there, and come over to investigate. Then wait for them to walk over to you. Also, darkness REALLY helps. Outside, even at night, it's extremely difficult to sneak up on anything. In a dungeon, however, I have relatively little trouble, ESPECIALLY if I go and take torches out of their sconces.

[Grasshopper]

1. Is having light armor on any different then some enchanted cloth?
2. Swords or daggers.
3. If I remove my boots does the rest of my armor matter?
4. How many points should I invent in my +20/40/60/80/100% sneak skill before heading off to do my other perks?
5. Bow vs Melee
6. How do the sneak finishers work? I heard it was like "If it would of one shot, then it does a finisher"

2. Go with daggers, or use both, daggers to sneak then if you dont kill use a sword to finish them off.

Spoiler:

If you join the DB and get the shrouded armor the gloves have an enchantment on them that doubles your sneak melee damage (if you get the dagger perk turns this into x 30 sneak damage)

3. Your armor makes noise collectively, removing your boots doesn't work, however Light/Heavy armor perks remove noise.

4. Only invest 1 point, the first sneak perk is 20% then only goes up by 5% each time (20-25-30-35-40%). Invest points in this after you have most of the other sneak perks.

5. Why choose 1? With my Bosmer she carries a bow, dual wields daggers and dual wields swords, then it just comes down to how I want to handle a situation.