Have you ever tried search for files using Spotlight only to get buried by a bunch of irrelevant results? If so, this quick tip should help you clean up your Spotlight results.

Spotlight has a handy feature that allows you to exclude certain directories from the Spotlight results. You can use it to exclude junk email folder, temporary directories and even Time Machine backup volumes. It’s pretty easy to setup.

First, open up the Spotlight Preferences Pane. Click System Preferences -> Spotlight.

Next, click the Privacy Button

This opens up a list of directories that you wish to exclude from your results. Choose them and click ok. You’ll see the directories appear in the Privacy list.

Hope that helps you keep your Spotlight results more relevant.

When you insert a CD or DVD player into your Mac the OS X detects the disc type and then will launch the appropriate program. With CDs it will launch iTunes, with DVDs it will launch the DVD player. In most cases, this is exactly what you want to happen. However, if you want to prevent the DVD Player application from launching when you insert a DVD or iTunes from launching when you insert a CD then you need to turn these actions off.

I have my DVD player setup so that it doesn’t launch any application when you insert a disc. You can also customize it to open a different application. The first step is to open the System Preferences. Then, click the CDs & DVD preference

When you click on this it opens the preferences that lets you set the action you want to take for each device.

If you insert a blank DVD or CD you can specify whether or not to launch a disc burning application. The default, Ask what to do is generally a good setting for blanks.

If you insert a disc with content on it, music, pictures or video you can take additional actions. The options above the horizontal line are default behaviors. If you click Open other application you can browse to a specific OS X application. Run script is useful if you have any custom actions you want to perform on the disc. Finally, Ignore will do nothing. For DVDs, I prefer Ignore.

The latest Macbooks have a great multi-touch trackpad. Even when I am using an external keyboard and mouse, I often reach for the trackpad.

I knew it was capable of handling multiple gestures. I didn’t know how capable though until I stumbled into the Trackpad System Preferences application. They have video demonstrations inside the app.

Configure the Multitouch Trackpad

You can view the demonstration and setup your Trackpad by clicking the System Preferences and choosing the Trackpad configuration application.

OS X now includes a built-in Firewall. The Firewall will help keep your system safe from hackers, especially on unknown networks. This video tutorial shows you how to enable the OS X application firewall and configure it for proper use.

It’s important to keep the software on your Mac up to date. Apple releases security updates and software improvements from time to time. Some of these are critical updates that Apple recommends that you install. This process is easy if you use the Software Update application built into OSX.

When you install OSX the Software Update application is set to run weekly. The application works by going out onto the internet to Apple servers and downloading any software updates. Then, if updates are available you are presented with a dialog box requesting you to install the updates. Some of these updates may require you to reboot the computer.

To manually check for updates, click the Apple menu in the menu bar and select Software Updates. This will open the update dialog presenting you with a list of updates that are ready to install.

Software Update is configured through the System Preferences application. Select System Preferences and Software Update to configure the application settings. Through this settings dialog you can configure the frequency of updates and look at a list of installed updates in your system.

Keep your Mac healthy by running Software Update and you will have years of happy computing.

The Dock is the application launcher provided by the Finder.

The Finder generally sits at the bottom of the screen. However, it doesn’t have to remain there. The Dock can be configured to display on the left or right sides of the screen. It can also be animated to provide feedback when something happens.

This can happen easily by using the System Preferences application. The following video demonstrates how to make the Dock behave the way you want it to.

Note, this post is updated, watch the new version of it here.