Searching this mac...........

Well, my son has entered this loong string into the search and now when i open finder, under search for, i have this crap in there and it pushes my view window to the far right to where i can not see files and folders. How do i get rid of this bogus search?

f0rgiven wrote:
Ummm, my son is 3, so he does not need his own account.
But he certainly should not be using yours
But back to the issue:
I force quit finder and relaunch and the search still shows up in the sidebar of finder. There is no x to click on. I have placed a screen capture here:
http://mytimewithgod.net/Picture.png
The error is not where I thought it was.
Simply drag that bad search off to the left of the Finder window and it will go "Poof!"

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"File, Find, Searching "This Mac" or "New Finder Window" not finding files ?

I an iMac 7,1, Mac OS X 10.6.8, Build 10K549,
I have noticed on many occasions recently that when I ma using either ...
File, Find, Searching "This Mac"
or
"New Finder Window"
I am NOT finding the files I am looking for ...
I now they are there, so I go through all my folders, and find the files, or folders I am looking for ...
So why could this be happening, why are they not found in the search ?
Is there a fix or addition ?

As baltwo eventually explained, you have to add the search criteria "System files" to your search, with the option "Include" selected, to find many items Spotlight otherwise excludes from search results. Alternately (& quite ridiculously), if your search is restricted to the parent folder containing the item, you don't need to add this.
For example, if you open /Library in the Finder, enter "Desktop Pictures" in the search box, you won't get it in the results with the default "This Mac" location, but if you click "Library" for the location, you will. (Yes, many users think this is bizarre, "what were they thinking?" behavior.)
What Spotlight considers "system files" is only slightly less bizarre, as you will probably discover once you start using it to broaden searches. For instance, Safari history items & Mail.app messages are not found unless you include system files, but many files like C Header Source files (in System/Library/Frameworks) are found without including system files in the search.
When it was introduced in Tiger, Spotlight was supposed to be a next-generation search engine, capable of accurately guessing what you were looking for (& filtering out what you weren't) with near-sentient intelligence. I think almost anyone who used that version will agree it did not achieve that lofty goal. Apple apparently agreed, or at least listened to the complaints enough to realize it needed rethinking. Unfortunately, what its designers came up with for the Leopard rethink feels like an early beta version, full of hastily implemented, quirky features that never got sorted out before it was released.
We can only hope that we won't have to wait for OS 10.6 for a more mature, less quirky version.

How to get dynamic icons like in "Searching this Mac"?

Hello,
So whenver I use spotlight to search something and click on "Show all in finder" I get the "Searching This Mac" window. The one where I can add filters and "stuff". When I resize this window, the icons rearrange themselves to allways fit the window, so that no icons are ommited. It's like they adapt dynamically to the window's size. OS is Lion.
Is there a way to get this behaviour on all finder windows? If so, how do I get them to behave that way?
Thank you in advance,
Milton Sá

I don't know of a way to make it happen automatically.
But you can make it happen with little effort. After resizing the window, press Command-Option-1
This instruction will perform a Clean Up action making the icons fill the window, using 'by name'. If you want a different arrangement function, look in the View menu, Clean Up By submenu.

How do I delete files found by Searching "This Mac"?

I am trying to get rid of the .xmp files that the PC version on ACDsee put in my files. I did a search and found 10,000 of these pest on my new iMac with
Searching "This Mac". I am able to select them all in that window, but there is not an option to delete them. I tried dragging them to the trash.
I realize these are in many folders on my computer. Is there an easy way to get rid of them all at one time? If not what would be the quickest
way to get rid of them? All help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much,
Jan

I disconnected my EHD and now it is letting me select them(dragging my mouse over about a 1000 at a time) and throw them in the trash. It must have found
some on the EHD, which I am going to wipe clean anyway after my files are moved over. I'll just check daily for new ones. Hope is is really deleting them from all those files. Over 6000 without the EHD.
Jan

In Finder how to stop "searching this Mac"?

When Finder is opened, an empty graph page opend up with the title, searching "This Mac". There are many, many pages behind it. As you delete each page, another pops up into infinity. How do I stop this searching "This Mac"?

Is Spotlight doing it?
One way to test is to Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, Test for problem in Safe Mode...
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive
Reboot, test again.
If it only does it in Regular Boot, then it could be some hardware problem like Video card, (Quartz is turned off in Safe Mode), or Airport, or 3rd party add-on, Check System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items window to see if it or something relevant is listed.
Check the System Preferences>Other Row, for 3rd party Pref Panes.
Also look in these if they exist, some are invisible...
/private/var/run/StartupItems
/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/LaunchDaemons

Why no size in "searching this mac"

why can we not change the options for what we see when "searching this mac"... i want to see the size... PLEASE fix this....
it currently seems to be just "name" "kind" and "last opened"
ugh

Glad to hear it works in Leopard. And believe me I sent feedback. I also wrote a review and put it up:
http://www.pinkmutant.com/articles/Leopard/leospot.html
I don't think I actually used the word "insane" in the feedback I sent directly to Apple, but I definitely said unkind things. Oh, and the article has been accessed 330 times since I put it up.....
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

How come in Finder, when I search "This Mac", there's fewer results than when searching somewhere more specific? Shouldn't it be the opposite?

I have my preferences set so that New Finder windows show Macintosh HD. So when I open a Finder window, five folders are shown: Applications, Library, System, User Information, and User. As an example of the subject of my question, I opened a Finder window and typed "hp" in the search field. Four results were displayed: HP ePrint.app, two other apps that open the printing queues of HP printers, and an HTML document of bookmarks with two bookmarks containing "hp" in their names. My goal of the search* was to find a folder named "hp", of which there are two that I know of on my computer. Their locations are: 'Macintosh HD/Library/Printers' and 'Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support'—neither folder was found when searched for in "This Mac" nor when searched for in "Macintosh HD". When I searched for "hp" in the Library folder, 36 results were displayed, including the two folders named "hp". Above those 36 items, it clearly indicated that my search was conducted in the Library folder, and that I was able to click "This Mac" to search my whole computer instead. Clicking "This Mac" resulted in the same four items that were found when I searched for "hp" immediately after opening the Finder window to be displayed again. In my mind, clicking "This Mac" should at least keep the 36 items found in my Library folder to remain displayed. My reason for thinking this is because the Library folder is contained in "This Mac", isn't it? The same logic applies to Macintosh HD also; why doesn't searching there return at least the same 36 results? This phenomenon of the contained location returning more search results than the location which contains it frustrates me. When I search for something, I have to guess if it's in Library or System (if it's in one of the other folders, I'm always certain of which to search). I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, it just doesn't make sense to me why I can't find things by searching in "This Mac" or Macintosh HD. Until I got this MacBook (15" Pro Retina mid 2012, 2.6/16/256) , I was a lifelong Windows user. I love my MacBook, but this search idiosyncrasy is the only thing about it that seems inferior to its Windows counterpart. Searching for something in Windows is easier to me because locations behave hierarchically. I still like my MBP way better than any other computer that I've ever owned before, I just wish Apple would change this one attribute. If anyone knows how to make the Finder search behave completely hierarchically (when the containing location returns at least the same search results as the location it contains), please let me know. Thank you.
*The "hp" folder search that I conducted was done only as an example of the issue that I discussed here. I knew where the folders were, thus, it was easier for me to explain the problem that was posed in my question.

Start with http://www.pinkmutant.com/articles/Leopard/leospot.html and http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/stopspotlightindex.html, then my mod to Finder's Find at http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080229204517495 for what you can change so you can find stuff excluded by the default structure.

Spotlight Searches "This Mac" Instead of Current Folder

If I have a folder open in Finder (in this case, from an external FAT32 drive) and I type a search into Spotlight within that Finder window, it will show results for "This Mac" instead of the current folder that I was in.
I have to click the folder name to the right of "This Mac" in the gray search options to get it to look in the correct folder. It's not a huge problem, just really annoying.
Anyone know how to fix this?
Thanks,
Chris

This behavior is definitely a pain. Certainly not the Tiger behavior. If I bother to navigate to a particular folder and then do a search, chances are I want to search that folder. If I search in a Finder window the default behavior should be to search the current folder. I've been looking for a way to change this for hours now. Hopefully someone can figure out a way. In the meantime I'm leaving feedback to Apple to express my displeasure with this change.
OAW

How do i get rid of (search: this mac all my files ) in finder window

this search bar doesnt go away anyone know how to get rid of it????

-> Finder -> Preferences -> Sidebar tab, uncheck "All My Files".

When looking at my "About This Mac" it says that I have 60gb of space left on my hard drive, but when I go into finder to find all of these files there is not 300gb worth in anything I search, even searching, "All files on the Mac". Help!?

When looking at my "About This Mac" it says that I have 60gb of space left on my hard drive, but when I go into finder to find all of these files there is not 300gb worth in anything I search, even searching, "All files on the Mac". Help!?
It says I have over 150 gigs of video on my hard drive. But I have gone through and deleted almost all of what shows up, still it says there is roughly the same amount on the hard drive. Where are these files? I want to delete them so I can have my hard drive clear.
Thanks for your help guys!

Quote from the article.
Time Machine in OS X Lion includes a new feature called "local snapshots" that keeps copies of files you create, modify or delete on your internal disk. Local snapshots compliment regular Time Machine backups (that are stored on your external disk or Time Capsule) giving you a "safety net" for times when you might be away from your external backup disk or Time Capsule and accidentally delete a file.
So what makes a notebook any different then a desktop, other then with a desktop you might have your tm backup drive connected all the time.
The object here is to not indiscriminately delete files you need or want to keep. I personally have never deleted a file I wanted to keep.
In essence a backup is for catastrophic failure of your system. So it can be restored once that failure has been fixed. Not because you go in willy nilly and start deleting files.

Search in Finder only returns results for "This Mac"

I'm experiencing the following, annoying issue with searching for files in Finder:
When I type a search text in Finder's search field, it only returns results when I select "This Mac". It does not return a single search result when being in any subfolder.
To make this a bit more clear assume the following structure:
| -– A
|    | -- B
|         | -- sample.pdf
|         | -- another-sample.pdf
|
| --- C
|     | -- yet-another-sample.pdf
|
| -- sample.pdf
I use finder to navigate to folder B. I type "sample" into the search bar. No results are returned.
Next I switch to "This Mac" and all of the above .pdf files are – correctly – returned.
The same happens when I'm in any other subfolder. Search only returns results when I switch to "This Mac".
Notes:
I'm not talking about network drives. All folders are local and below "This Mac" in the file system hierarchy.
I have forced Spotlight to reindex via sudo mdutil -E.
It happens on multiple machines, Snow Leopard upgrades and Lion clean installs.
Any idea? This bug renders Lion almost useful for me.

I had the same problem .... found this link
http://osxdaily.com/2007/02/15/spotlight-wont-work-fix-a-broken-spotlight-menu-w ith-these-troubleshooting-tips/
And solution 3 the simplest, no wait the wierdest,
Change the screen resoultion then revert!
worked for me ...... go figure.

Memory Speed (MHz) missing in 'About This Mac'

Hi
I'm using a Macbook Pro with 10.4.9 and all updates and I recently noticed that the memory speed is missing in the 'About This Mac' window.
It's saying: Memory 1GB 0 MHz RAM.
Am I the only one with this problem or is this a bug?

Please search the discussions before posting, as this topic has already been covered:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4489699

Storage values under about this mac displaying incorrectly, but amount of space used IS correct. Any ideas?

I noticed recently that the "storage" under "about this mac" is displaying incorrectly. It doesn't show the correct values for my photos, videos, and audio files. It classifies this data under "other". I have been searching all over the internet, I went to the Apple genius bar yesterday and they recommended I re-install OSX. I did and it still shows up incorrectly. They were baffled, said they never really came across this issue. I have tried re-indexing spotlight, that didn't seem to help.
The amount of storage used IS correct. It just doesn't show up under the correct categories in storage, under about this mac. Also, the computer seems to work fine. No real issues. It's a mid 2012 MBP. 500gb hard drive. Most recent OSX is installed.
I DO NOT think it is local snapshots, cause my backups category is small and the amount of space used and free is correct. I have downloaded omnidisk sweeper to confirm this.
I have seen a few posts on here and around the web referring to this, but no real answers. I have also reviewed Pondini's info on this to no avail.
Does anyone have any ideas?!?!

Also,
I had installed a version of parallels with windows 7, but deleted it. Would parallels be causing my computer to index incorrectly? I I used appcleaner to delete all the parallels files so I do not have it anymore.

Anyone - that "About this MAC" only gives the OS X Version Number and not the Name?

Is anyone else - that "About this MAC" only gives the OS X Version Number and doesn't also give out the Name?
*** version is Mountain Lion? Snow Leopard? Yosemite?? And how hard would it be to use the name AND version number when they refer to a product?
So What Do I have with 10.8.5 ?
PS [as I use this site for the first, I am glad to see for the first time ANYWHERE that the drop down box lists the OS X by name and number. APPLE, PLEASE DO THAT EVERYWHERE!

A google search would have yielded the answer
10.8 is Mountain Lion.
~Lyssa

Mac Air 11" - how do I find out what files are showing up in "About this MAC" Storage "other" category?

Hi - I am having storage trouble with my storage. When I go into About this Mac, Storage, the category "Other" has a very large amount of gigs stored. I have already dumped my email, downloads when in to Trahs, emptied secure trash, etc. How do I find out what is included in the "other" category?

First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so.
Use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.
Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual.
Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste (command-V) into the Terminal window. You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means.
When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

Searching this mac...........

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