Spotlight problems since recent updates

Users are reporting a bevy of Spotlight issues after the recent QuickTime 7.4.5, iTunes 7.6.2 and Front Row 2.1.3 updates. Since these updates were released, and installed in quick succession by many users, it's difficult to peg the culpable package.

Some exemplary reports:

• "I have an External LaCie 1TB Drive that is a Journaled Filesystem. Recently I have noticed that Spotight is not "seeing" some (like lots!) of the files on this Drive even though the search term is in the filename as a complete word. The Drive has some 270,000 files. Deleting and reindexing the Spotlight index on the drive does not fix the problem." -- Bob Easson
• "Seems that since the last Quicktime/Keynote/FrontRow upgrade, my MacBook Pro has glacial startup times and Spotlight keeps re-indexing my hard drive. This was not a problem before, but cruising the threads has shown the depth of the re-indexing problem." -- John Rozum
• "I updated the trio QuickTime/iTunes/FrontRow and now when I restart I get an error that Spotlight has crashed. I can't proceed beyond this error loop (can't ignore or relaunch) just keeps crashing, can't get to Finder. Repaired permissions and disk via Mac OSX CD, still no luck" -- James Young

The first procedure you should try in the case of general Spotlight issues after a major system update is the following:

• Download the utility Spotless.
• Use the tool to erase the Spotlight index.
• Restart your Mac.

If that doesn't solve your problem, there is likely some data on your drive that is causing Spotlight to choke while it's indexing. Launch the Console application (located in /Applications/Utilities, then select system.log from the left-hand pane. In Filter field (upper-right corner), type Spotlight and look for any entries that might indicate faulty data. Also try the search term mds. When any suspect entries turn up, seek them our on your volume(s) and temporarily remove them from Spotlight indexing via this process:

• Find the problematic file(s) or folder(s) in the Finder and leave the window open
• Launch System Preferences and go to the Spotlight pane
• Click the Privacy tab
• Drag the offending file(s)/folder(s) to the Privacy tab, then perform the aforementioned process for removing the Spotlight index.

One of the most common culprits for choking Spotlight is Entourage. Launch Entourage and access Preferences under the "Entourage" menu. Click Spotlight, then uncheck the box next to "Include Entourage items in Spotlight search results." You can also use the "Rebuild" option to solve some related issues.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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