5 ms·

Why?

by spost 11y ago

Why?

Mikhail_Edoshin 11y ago
I'm not the author, but I too had problems with it in old days. First versions of Spotlight were very buggy and sometimes the background indexer slowed down the computer very noticeably (eating up 25% and more of processor time). Apparently, it had something to do with the first invocation: if it didn't manage to index all at the first time (which could easily happen if the user restarted the computer), then it entered that processor-hungry mode. Another thing is bad UI. It starts to search as soon as I type it, which, for me works so: I type one or two characters, then it freezes because it starts searching and finds everything with these characters. Then after a few very long seconds it thaws out and I get a chance to type the rest of it and also set search options. I almost always search for file name, not contents, so I have to set this option on every search. Somehow I don't have these problems on Windows; here I always have a chance to type the whole phrase. I also use content search much more often, that is, I don't bother setting options, I'm content with the results :) (My PC hardware is faster, but not that much faster; I think the problem is in bad timing.)
- lobster_johnson 11y ago
  Spotlight used to be bad, but the issues were resolved long ago. It's fast and gives good results, and no longer freezes or consumes lots of CPU. In Yosemite you even have a bunch of NLP stuff, like typing "100 feet in meters" to perform calculations.
  - MichaelCrawford 11y ago
    I dont want extra copies of my information that I dont know about. Some of the work I do I keep encrypted. My problem with OS X in general is information leakage, there are logs and caches all over creation. Its not enough for me to disable indexing of a folder or filesystem; I am concerned spotlight will index leaked information. Admittedly osx is a poor choice for my work, openbsd would be better but i dont like neckbeardsbeither.
  - Mikhail_Edoshin 11y ago
    I cannot keep up with Apple :) It changes so fast, I cannot switch computers that often.
    - amake 11y ago
      The last few versions of OS X have been free if you have 10.6 or higher. The last hardware that was dropped from support was sold between 2007 and early 2008.

Why?

by spost 11y ago

Why?

I'm not the author, but I too had problems with it in old days. First versions of Spotlight were very buggy and sometimes the background indexer slowed down the computer very noticeably (eating up 25% and more of processor time). Apparently, it had something to do with the first invocation: if it didn't manage to index all at the first time (which could easily happen if the user restarted the computer), then it entered that processor-hungry mode. Another thing is bad UI. It starts to search as soon as I type it, which, for me works so: I type one or two characters, then it freezes because it starts searching and finds everything with these characters. Then after a few very long seconds it thaws out and I get a chance to type the rest of it and also set search options. I almost always search for file name, not contents, so I have to set this option on every search. Somehow I don't have these problems on Windows; here I always have a chance to type the whole phrase. I also use content search much more often, that is, I don't bother setting options, I'm content with the results :) (My PC hardware is faster, but not that much faster; I think the problem is in bad timing.)

lobster_johnson 11y ago
Spotlight used to be bad, but the issues were resolved long ago. It's fast and gives good results, and no longer freezes or consumes lots of CPU. In Yosemite you even have a bunch of NLP stuff, like typing "100 feet in meters" to perform calculations.
- MichaelCrawford 11y ago
  I dont want extra copies of my information that I dont know about. Some of the work I do I keep encrypted. My problem with OS X in general is information leakage, there are logs and caches all over creation. Its not enough for me to disable indexing of a folder or filesystem; I am concerned spotlight will index leaked information. Admittedly osx is a poor choice for my work, openbsd would be better but i dont like neckbeardsbeither.
- Mikhail_Edoshin 11y ago
  I cannot keep up with Apple :) It changes so fast, I cannot switch computers that often.
  - amake 11y ago
    The last few versions of OS X have been free if you have 10.6 or higher. The last hardware that was dropped from support was sold between 2007 and early 2008.