How do i turn off "FACES"

Question

I use Iphoto '09 and have never used faces. After some sort of application update I fund the system grinds to a halt and the gears go 'round at the "faces" feature which I do not use. How do I turn it off.

Answer 1

You can't turn it off or keep it from scanning for faces but you can keep it from creating the small face image files. Here's how:
1 - open the library like this in the Finder.
2 - in the Database folder move this file to the Trash: Faces.db.
3 - close the package/folder and launch iPhoto.  Close it after a moment.
4 -  open the package, find the new version of the file and lock it via the Info window for the file.
5 - while viewing the contents of the package type Command+F to start a search.
6 - set the criteria of the search to:  Kind is Image and Name Contains "face".
7 - select all of the files in the search results window and drag to the Trash.
8 -close the package and launch iPhoto. 
You will get the faces spinning wheel as it tries to index the library the first time it's opened but it won't be able to write to the database file if you should try to add a face and won't create any new jpeg faces files. Of course make a backup of your library before trying this and no guarantee implied.
OT