Disabling Spotlight

1. Launch Terminal and type the following:

sudo nano /etc/hostconfig

2. Navigate using the arrow keys down the following entry:

SPOTLIGHT=-YES-

3. Change

SPOTLIGHT=-YES- to SPOTLIGHT=-NO-

4. Save /etc/hostconfig by hitting Control-O and the return key, next hit Control-X to exit the nano editor
5. Next, you’ll want to disable the index by typing the following in the Terminal:

mdutil -i off /

6. And to erase the current Spotlight index, type:

mdutil -E /

7. That’s pretty much it, on your next reboot, Spotlight will be completely disabled.

Re-Enable Spotlight

1. If you want to enable Spotlight again, follow the same steps as above, but change SPOTLIGHT=-NO- to SPOTLIGHT=-YES-
2. and then type mdutil -i on / in the Terminal
3. Reboot, and Spotlight is back as usual