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Can You Disable Spotlight and Siri in macOS Tahoe?

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Re: Can You Disable Spotlight and Siri in macOS Tahoe?

#91

Post by zapzupnz »

analogpixel wrote: post #74
giantrobot wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Spotlight all the time to search for the contents of files. I don't memorize the contents and names of every file on my system, that's what my computer is for.

this is what grep is for. Why do I need a service constantly indexing my system and wasting resources for the few times a month I might need to run grep ? what problem was really solved here?

Does grep work on anything other than plain text?

And then you'll have to wait for grep to trawl every folder to find the right file rather than consult an optimised index.

Re: Can You Disable Spotlight and Siri in macOS Tahoe?

#92

Post by zapzupnz »

analogpixel wrote: post #56
kruuuder wrote: post #7

I understand the desire to disable Siri system-wide, but Spotlight? How else are you going to find your files? I'm often annoyed how slow/unreliable Spotlight is, especially in Mail, but what's the alternative here?

Store your files in a file structure that makes sense so you know where things are? I have never used Spotlight to find a file because I put files in sensible places.

> I put files in sensible places

Good for you. Do you want a medal?

Finding files often means more than just looking in folders for adequately named files. Sometimes, it's looking for the contents of files, for things that aren't files (because some kinds of files on macOS aren't actually files, they're folders that are treated specially by the system), and for things like contacts, calendar events, reminders, mail, etc.

Re: Can You Disable Spotlight and Siri in macOS Tahoe?

#93

Post by zapzupnz »

vosper wrote: post #35
kruuuder wrote: post #7

I understand the desire to disable Siri system-wide, but Spotlight? How else are you going to find your files? I'm often annoyed how slow/unreliable Spotlight is, especially in Mail, but what's the alternative here?

Spotlight is much improved in Tahoe - faster and with better results.

Faster and better, but in all its time, it's never gotten better than Alfred which, ironically, depends on the Spotlight index.

Re: Can You Disable Spotlight and Siri in macOS Tahoe?

#94

Post by zapzupnz »

walterbell wrote: post #68
jaffa2 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isnt that exactly how it works?

From the first message in this thread: automatic OCR / processing of all image files on macOS If OCR was deferred until user request/consent, it would eliminate the battery/performance cost of speculative image analysis.

The first message in the thread isn't the definition of the actual feature.

Re: Can You Disable Spotlight and Siri in macOS Tahoe?

#95

Post by clickety_clack »

fizwidget wrote: post #70
duped wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is allowing the user the power to disable software on the device they own "disastrous" for anyone

It opens the door to tech-illiterate users being tricked into disabling security features, doesn’t it? Not saying I agree with it but I imagine that’s the motivation.

That's like saying houses shouldn't have doors in case the unwary are tricked into letting thieves into their homes.

Re: Can You Disable Spotlight and Siri in macOS Tahoe?

#96

Post by walterbell »

zapzupnz wrote: post #94
walterbell wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the first message in this thread: automatic OCR / processing of all image files on macOS If OCR was deferred until user request/consent, it would eliminate the battery/performance cost of speculative image analysis.

The first message in the thread isn't the definition of the actual feature.

What's the best way to disable all MacOS image processing background services?

Re: Can You Disable Spotlight and Siri in macOS Tahoe?

#97

Post by analogpixel »

zapzupnz wrote: post #92
analogpixel wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Store your files in a file structure that makes sense so you know where things are? I have never used Spotlight to find a file because I put files in sensible places.

> I put files in sensible places Good for you. Do you want a medal? Finding files often means more than just looking in folders for adequately named files. Sometimes, it's looking for the contents of files, for things that aren't files (because some kinds of files on macOS aren't actually files, they're folders that are treated specially by the system), and for things like contacts, calendar events, reminders, mail,…

> Do you want a medal?

Only if it's tastefully done, and says something like "Grep Champion"

Re: Can You Disable Spotlight and Siri in macOS Tahoe?

#98

Post by freehorse »

analogpixel wrote: post #79
josephg wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want spotlight to open applications and system settings. But full disk indexing makes spotlight basically useless for that, because its index is filled with crap. Instead of opening zed I accidentally open some random header file that’s sitting around in Xcode. It’s worse than useless. And that says nothing of the grotesque amount of cpu time spotlight wants to spend indexing all my files. A feature I never wanted…

I think it's been said in this thread already, but it sounds like what you want is Alfred https://www.alfredapp.com/ it's a great app, use it every few minutes every day. also, for opening apps, https://charmstone.app/ is pretty great.

I am also in OP's boat and, even though these are great suggestions, personally I would like to be able to do a basic thing such as opening an app with a built-in way rather than having to download yet another app to do that. Every major macos update I have to worry about spotlight reindexing things.

What I find really annoying with macos is that with stock/default settings it is the worst UX. You have to download an app to launch apps, an app to move and resize windows, an app to reverse the mouse's wheel direction to be the opposite of the trackpad, an app to manage the menu bar (esp decrease the spacing, so that you can fit items up until the notch). Then, you also need anyway to spend an hour tweaking settings and run custom commands (such as `defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false` so that you can actually type stuff like aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa). These are just needed to make using macos bearable, and do not include any kind of "power user" kind of stuff.

I used to hate macos before getting my own mac, because I had to use some at work in their default settings and it was just a horrible experience.

Re: Can You Disable Spotlight and Siri in macOS Tahoe?

#99

Post by wpm »

jama211 wrote: post #38
wpm wrote: post #5

It's a shame Apple has decided that if the launch agent or daemon lives in the System folder that means the user/admin should have zero control over it. I should be able to disable any launchd job on my computer end of story.

You’re very entitled to your opinion, but it should be fairly obvious why this isn’t reasonable from their perspective. Put another way, let’s just say I think apple is glad you’re not making decisions about how their operating system should work. It’s an OS built for users, not those who wish to have iron control over everything. Allowing that would be disastrous for most users just to appease the very small percent…

What is the attack chain enabled by letting me disable the com.apple.mediaanalysisd job?

Re: Can You Disable Spotlight and Siri in macOS Tahoe?

#100

Post by PearlRiver »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #82
mixmastamyk wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sudo or equivalent has been around for quite a long time now.

You think regular people can be trusted with sudo? (Absolutely not.)

This is an interesting question. I started using computers in the late 90s when there were no guardrails and everything was permitted so I know what I am doing- or at the very least only blame myself if I fuck it up.

But your average 20 year old who only knows an iPhone would be out of his/her depth quickly.

Computers are no longer made for me.

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