Changing OS X's default "Find" behavior

Is there a way to change the Finder's "Find" behavior so it DOES NOT automatically / immediately start searching your hard drive(s) and volumes as soon as you begin typing a term in the search field? I'd like to disable this feature if possible.

3rd party tools and copying and pasting
are not really that desirable.
You can use Automator to do most of the work for you.
Open Automator and drag the following Actions to the right-hand side workflow pane, in this order:
1) Ask for Text -- The purpose of this action is to create a dialog box into which you'll enter your search term. In the upper field (pre-populated with the word "Question"), enter a text query appropriate to the task at hand, "Search for..." or "Search Spotlight..." for example. Leave the Default Answer field blank.
2) Copy to Clipboard -- Copies the text you entered in the dialog box to the Clipboard.
3) Spotlight -- Opens Spotlight automatically. Make sure to check "Show Action When Run" under Options. At this point you need only paste into the Spotlight search field and Spotlight will begin searching.
Test the Automator workflow by selecting Workflow > Run; when you find it works properly, File > Save As an Application.
While it would be ideal if in step 3 Spotlight would open with the search term already populated, thus making pasting unnecessary, I haven't found a way. However, there is a 3rd-party application called Laserlight 2.0.3 which will do just that. Good luck!
Regards, Andrew99
iMac 1 GHz Flat Panel 15" PPC 768 MB RAM   Mac OS X (10.4.10)  

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