Spotlight

The Spotlight feature in OS X is a convenient tool for locating your files, contacts, e-mails, and other information by searching through an index of file content and metadata in addition to file names. While this feature's primary use is for locating user data and resources you may use, such as Applications and system preferences, it can also be used to find practically any file on the system.

Spotlight's index of your hard drive includes information on practically every file on the drive, but since it is geared toward relevant search results, by default Spotlight does not include … Read more

Smartphones can take great photos, but we all know the on-board flash can produce harsh and ugly shadows.

Well, the Pocket Spotlight is an accessory that not only provides a softer and more flattering quality of light, but also lets you adjust how the light falls on your subjects before image capture.

The Pocket Spotlight consists of a bank of LEDs that's capable of generating a continuous stream of light for up to one hour on a fully charged battery. … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer Mac-related questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week, readers wrote in with questions about Spotlight not being able to find files that are known to exist in a user's account, options for adding 16GB of RAM to older MacBook Pro systems, and options for troubleshooting and fixing a broken trackpad in a MacBook. I welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: Spotlight not finding files MacFixIt reader Mike asks:

In the past, classic search routines in the Mac OS scoured the directory tree of the file system to locate files, but with ever-increasing numbers of files on computers, these searches became slower and slower. To tackle this in OS X, Apple introduced an indexing solution called Spotlight as a replacement for the classic search, which actively indexes files as they are created or edited. When you perform a search, the system accesses this index to almost instantaneously bring up search results not only for file names, but also for relevancy since the indexing includes the content of the files … Read more

After installing the latest OS X 10.7.5 update for Lion, a number of users are finding their Time Machine backups are taking forever to complete. In some cases the backups only run at a few kilobytes per hour, with text claiming that the backups will take between days to weeks to complete. People report this issue occurring with a variety of Mac models and backup setups, including backing up to local drives and to Apple's Time Capsule devices.

In addition to Time Machine running slowly, those experiencing this problem have noticed Spotlight also takes forever to update … Read more

The Spotlight search technology in OS X will index the entire drive for inclusion in search results, but also has options where you can enable or disable specific file types to tailor the search results for your needs. In addition, Apple provides a privacy list where you can add folders or even entire drives to prevent the contents within them from being indexed and included in search results. While adding and removing items from this list is usually relatively painless, there are times when you cannot seem to modify the spotlight settings.

Recently I was contacted by MacFixIt reader Dean … Read more

Just one month ago, Tumblr CEO David Karp announced that displaying ads was the "complete last resort" for the microblogging service. Well, financial temptation must have gotten the better of him.

Tumblr announced the introduction of Tumblr Radar and Tumblr Spotlight today, which are two types of advertising products available to sponsors for an entry-level price of $25,000, according to VentureBeat. Although this is an about-face to what Karp said last month, there are still some conditions for potential advertisers.

First, the advertisers must be "approved" by Tumblr. Second, they must be willing to shell … Read more

If you're not satisfied with the power or flexibility of the Mac's built-in Spotlight search, you should check out HoudahSpot. This app isn't a Spotlight replacement, but rather a more versatile front-end for Spotlight--as it actually uses the technology behind Spotlight to help you find files on your computer. HoudahSpot works in much the same way as Spotlight, and you can pull it up with a key combo or a menubar icon. Once you do, though, HoudahSpot offers many more search options--and it waits until you've finished forming a query rather than immediately returning results as … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers. This week we had questions on Spotlight having problems indexing an external drive, the memory slot utility continually showing messages at bootup, keyboard brightness controls not working on external monitors, and DVD drives not playing audio CDs. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present a few answers here, we welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

Question: Spotlight indexing hanging on new external drive MacFixIt reader Kyle asks: