Things You'll Need:
- Mac OS 10 Tiger or later
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Step 1
Log in to your Mac account using your username and password.
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Step 2
Click on the Apple icon in the Finder bar. The Apple icon contains most of your system's powerful settings, like preferences and display options as well as the ability to log in or shut down.
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Step 3
Scroll down to the "System Preferences" menu option.
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Step 4
Scroll to and click on the "Spotlight" menu choice.
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Step 5
Examine your options. You can select to show files in different ways, such as thumbnails for images or simple data outputs for files and applications. You can also choose to add or remove search parameters in Spotlight and, most importantly, you can set certain files and folders to be marked "Private" so no one may search for them.
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Step 6
Feel free to change the Spotlight Menu Keyboard Shortcut. The keyboard shortcut allows you to quickly access Spotlight without having to click on the spyglass icon in the Finder bar. Many people use Ctrl-S or Open Apple-S.
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Step 7
Click on the "Privacy" tab to drag and drop items you wish to be marked private. Private items can only be removed from the Private section by the person who put them there or the system administrator.
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Step 8
Click the "Add (+)" and "Remove (-)" buttons to add files and folders to Spotlight's search parameters. By default files and folders are set to automatically be included in the list, but you can also use Spotlight to find files and folders on other systems on the network using the "Add (+)" and "Remove (-)" features.
