Why does the "find" feature suck in Lion?

Question

In Leopard, I'd type "apple f" and could find my files easily.   Now when I use "apple f" and type in a file name, dozens of files come up that have nothing to do with what I typed in.  Sometimes, even files that have the exact name won't show up at all!  Now I have to add parameters such as search by name or name "is" or "contains" to even get close to the file I'm looking for, but Leopard used to default to that, which of course made sense.  I know they added the apple space bar searching method in Lion but I can't use that when I'm trying to attach a file to an email and the results list is smaller.  I used to love how easy it was to find any file on my mac, now it's a chore.  Am I missing something?!

Answer 1

I can tell why Cmd-F blows; because Apple has figured out a better way of doing the same search.
Cmd-F used to be the preferred way to search for system files, but the searches can be inconsistent. Don't waste your time. Instead, use the key combination Cmd-Space to bring up Spotlight; this will bring up all of the relevant files, as well as web searches, and will even group the searches for your convenience.
Cmd-F is still a great tool if, say, you're using a browser like Safari; this will search a page and highlight pieces of text.
If this information doesn't suck, or even if it does, post here so others can access this same info in the future!