Tip: If the Spotlight menu is searching really slowly, do this.

[TheSpaz]

This is just a friendly tip for those who don't know. Please don't flame me for this.

Okay, so yesterday I wanted to search for a desktop picture I downloaded. Naturally, I just pulled up the spotlight menu and typed in the name of the desktop picture and waited, and waited, and waited. It found the dictionary definition, and two applications but, the jpg was just taking FOREVER to show up. I ended up canceling the search and just finding it on my hard drive because I knew right where it was.

This was annoying me so I searched for a solution. I tried re-indexing my drive, but that didn't solve the problem. However, after trying a few things, I found the culprit!

I have a Boot Camp partition for Windows 7 (it's for games, don't judge me). Well, I figured out that since Snow Leopard can't write to my Boot Camp partition, it couldn't index it as well. All I had to do was go into System Preferences>Spotlight>Privacy and add my Boot Camp partition to the list. Now my Spotlight is lightening fast again. Sweet!

To summarize:

Is Spotlight taking forever to search?
Add your Boot Camp partition/drive to System Preferences>Spotlight>Privacy

Enjoy!

 

[1ofthedavids]

I really think this is a good tip for people to know. It's one of those things people may not realize unless it's pointed out to them. Since I rarely use Spotlight, one of the first things I do is make sure extra drives aren't indexed. Nice post!

 

[celticpride678]

This actually works. I added my Boot Camp partition and it works faster.

 

[TheSpaz]

This actually works. I added my Boot Camp partition and it works faster.

Awesome! Glad I could help someone else too!