[Moderator]

It just occurred to me how incredibly dangerous Spotlight is. I picked up a friends computer and searched for "whore"....all kinds of (presumably private) items popped up. Another girl I know has a Mac..I type in c*ck while she's in the bathroom and a boatload of porn is instantly at my fingtertips.

Phew...made me nervous...I'd like a utility that password protects or disables it when needed.

If you're stepping away for a moment, log out of your computer boys....who knows what could pop up.

[Randman]

You can deselect items from the Spotlight search via Preferences.

That said, that girl could be a home run.


And you can require a password to wake from the Screensaver. Set it up for a hot corner and activate it when you leave the room.

[MaxPower]

Originally Posted by Randman

That said, that girl could be a home run.

Quoted for Great Justice

The title of this thread should be renamed "How to use Spotlight to find freaky-deakies"

[fisherKing]

hardly a spotlight issue.

you could just search the drives with command-F, and find stuff.
or open some folders and look around...


that said, i find it hard to believe that the porn on your friends computers was so cleverly named...

[Moderator]

I think spotlight searches more than simply the file name.....doesn't it search inside documents as well as meta data.....also searches emails.

and of course its instant

[Chuckit]

Not a Spotlight issue. If you don't want people being able to find your private stuff, don't let them use your account. Otherwise, they can find it, Spotlight or no.

[fisherKing]

Originally Posted by Moderator

I think spotlight searches more than simply the file name.....doesn't it search inside documents as well as meta data.....also searches emails.

and of course its instant

of course, but, if we're talking jpgs, or video, where would such words appear?
(just wondering: as a mac tech in ny, i find that most people tend to, uh, hide their porn, not label it descriptively)


anyway, people are dangerous, not spotlight..

[OreoCookie]

You can exclude directories from being searched for privacy reasons.

[Brass]

How about this for an idea. If you wan't people to think you don't have any porn, then don't have any porn. If you're ashamed of it, don't do it.

If you're not ashamed of it, then why worry about it.

[rpark]

It has also come to my attention that safari/iChat/etc places comments on where the files were downloaded.

With that said, you can use a password protected disk-image if you were that cautious.

[KP*]

In addition to an encrypted disk image, which still could leave traces of files with incriminating names in your recently used lists, you could have a totally separate user with FileVault enabled, that way your recently used files and Safari cache are protected too. You should always have a second user anyway, just for protection against your primary user getting corrupted.

Not that I have anything like this on my Mac.

BTW, if you use a disk image, give it a really boring sounding name, so that if anyone does find it they have no interest in knowing what's inside. Naming it "Pictures of C*ck" is probably not a good idea.

[production_coordinator]

That's why I never look at porn on my laptop.

[leperkuhn]

all my porn is given descriptive names so i can search for it with spotlight. i find this to be most helpful during my personal time.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Brass

How about this for an idea. If you wan't people to think you don't have any porn, then don't have any porn. If you're ashamed of it, don't do it.

If you're not ashamed of it, then why worry about it.

Ding Dong!

And for situations where it might be inappropriate (where for example the private machine is also used as a business computer), there is the Privacy function in Spotlight Preferences.

[Randman]

Originally Posted by Brass

How about this for an idea. If you wan't people to think you don't have any porn, then don't have any porn. If you're ashamed of it, don't do it.

If you're not ashamed of it, then why worry about it.

You must be a lifelong bachelor.

[step]

Originally Posted by Brass

How about this for an idea. If you wan't people to think you don't have any porn, then don't have any porn. If you're ashamed of it, don't do it.

If you're not ashamed of it, then why worry about it.

i poop, i'm not ashmed of it, but i don't want every occurance turning up in a searchable database

try a disk image, encrypted if you're paranoid, spotlight can't search unmounted disks

[NeilCharter]

There are a couple of utilities to show / hide hidden items. You can hide folders from view and these are not spotlight searchable.

[inkhead]

What's freaky about a girl who likes c*ck anyway?

Originally Posted by fisherKing

hardly a spotlight issue.

you could just search the drives with command-F, and find stuff.
or open some folders and look around...


that said, i find it hard to believe that the porn on your friends computers was so cleverly named...

[fisherKing]

Originally Posted by inkhead

What's freaky about a girl who likes c*ck anyway?

didnt say anything like that in my post...



that said, if u want to hide your porn, rename it.
otherwise, organize it well

[Colonel Panic]

FWIW and off-topic, I'd be a little angry if a friend of mine was all over my Spotlight icon looking for crap when I left the room for a moment. Analogously, I also wouldn't want people rummaging through my closets, regardless of what was in there or not in there. Damn.

[viruscool]

I find Safari's private browsing function very helpful

[Brass]

Originally Posted by Randman

You must be a lifelong bachelor.

au contraire

I'm married and have no need for porn. Come to think of it, I had no need before I was married either.

[TheSpaz]

I hide my pr0n in a password protected disk image. Either that, or I just use streaming video.

[Salty]

Spotlight also can't search hidden directories. Personally I don't know why anyone if they didn't want porn found wouldn't have it in a hidden folder, or at least a password protected disk image or something. But yah, searching for porn on someone else's computer is something I never do, I'd rather not know.

[Hi I'm Ben]

stop downloading generic porn. Stick to the exotic stuff like beastility and scatting so those oh so common keywords will have no effect.

[Maflynn]

Originally Posted by Moderator

It just occurred to me how incredibly dangerous Spotlight is. I picked up a friends computer and searched for "whore"....all kinds of (presumably private) items popped up. Another girl I know has a Mac..I type in c*ck while she's in the bathroom and a boatload of porn is instantly at my fingtertips.

Am I the only one who thinks that snooping around some else's computer is wrong. If they stepped out of the room do you rifle through their possessions, if that girl you know left the room, do you open up her pocketbook and see what's in there for kicks? Why would you do it electronically its just as private.

While I don't think spotlight is dangerous, I do think its revealing. I also think the majority of Mac owners (I include myself here) don't know how thorough spotlight is.

There's nothing on my G5 that if my wife typed in a phrase in spotlight she would find.

The morality of porn is one thing, going into someone's private files is quite another, and using spot light your invading their privacy.

Mike

[murk]

Originally Posted by Moderator

It just occurred to me how incredibly dangerous Spotlight is. I picked up a friends computer and searched for "whore"....all kinds of (presumably private) items popped up. Another girl I know has a Mac..I type in c*ck while she's in the bathroom and a boatload of porn is instantly at my fingtertips.

Phew...made me nervous...I'd like a utility that password protects or disables it when needed.

If you're stepping away for a moment, log out of your computer boys....who knows what could pop up.

While you are at it, you should look for stuff that might implicate them as terrorists and then turn them into Homeland Security.

[murk]

Would it be possible to write an Applescript that plays a loud alarm anytime someone spotlights any of a list of predefined dirty words? Perhaps even a specific spoken response to each word. Something like "Whore? Sorry, no whores on this computer. Please Google your girlfriend's name instead!"

[forkies]

Originally Posted by Maflynn

The morality of porn is one thing, going into someone's private files is quite another, and using spot light your invading their privacy.

be respectful of others

[Grrr]

I have to say, I found this thread really funny

[rickey939]

Originally Posted by production_coordinator

That's why I never look at porn on my laptop.

Hey, thanks for the (3) DVD's worth of files the other day. Much appreciated!

[::maroma::]

How about just naming a bunch of other misc. stuff with "porn specific" words. Like normal text documents, pics of the ocean, etc etc. That way they get far too many returns on a search to actually spot any real porn.

(yep.. thats my mind workin overtime!)

[moodymonster]

just create another user and keep files there. Give your mac a porn alter ego.

I remember once at school we had marathon on some networked macs and kept the app in a hidden folder, the teachers never found it

[Agent69]

If you are really worried about material being findable, you having the following options:

a. Turn off Spotlight completely (modifying /etc/hostconfig).
b. Turn off the indexing on the drive the porn is located on (using the mdutil command).
c. Keep the material on disk images, which I understand is ignored by Spotlight.
d. Use the Spotlight control panel's Privacy tab to prevent indexing on desired folders.
e. Put the material in a folder with a .noindex extension, as as "porn.noindex"

[DigitalEl]

stop downloading generic porn. Stick to the exotic stuff like beastility and scatting so those oh so common keywords will have no effect.

Made me laugh out loud. I'm punchy!

[nJm]

speaking of funny instances of porn popping up on your mac... a while ago I was setting up iTunes for the first time on my iBook's installation and told it to add everything in my home folder... big mistake when friends scrolling through your iTunes library see things like "Sean Cody gay porn - Isaac f*cks Zack" in it. lol, oh and incidently it played the audio from the mpeg files.

[Busemann]

Originally Posted by TheSpaz

I hide my pr0n in a password protected disk image.

haha me too.

"Test.dmg"

[Taipan]

Hi!

Perhaps you should crate a dedicated pr0n user. AFAIK Spotlight won't search other than the active user's home folders (as it shouldn't).

[TheMosco]

I was typing in "mastering physics" into google on this kids ibook. It auto-completed "mas" to "massive c*ck". I have no idea why he was searching for that.

[TheSpaz]

Originally Posted by TheMosco

I was typing in "mastering physics" into google on this kids ibook. It auto-completed "mas" to "massive c*ck". I have no idea why he was searching for that.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

[Jackus]

Originally Posted by KP*

BTW, if you use a disk image, give it a really boring sounding name, so that if anyone does find it they have no interest in knowing what's inside. Naming it "Pictures of C*ck" is probably not a good idea.

Like Keychain. Or just a load of 1's and 0's.

[gadster]

Originally Posted by moodymonster

just create another user and keep files there. Give your mac a porn alter ego.

I remember once at school we had marathon on some networked macs and kept the app in a hidden folder, the teachers never found it

We have a winner. Filevault it, too. (aka: encrypted.dmg)

You should have got a HD for that bit of skulduggery.

[Todd Madson]

My friend Nick used to tell me "any time you have any data you don't want anyone else
to see on your computer, just put it in a folder named 'Math Files', nobody will want to
look in there". Heh.

We used to work for a company that was so liberal in their netsurfing policies that it
was not surprising to walk past some people with full-on smut on their screens.

No more of course but that was early in the internet explosion.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by Todd Madson

My friend Nick used to tell me "any time you have any data you don't want anyone else
to see on your computer, just put it in a folder named 'Math Files', nobody will want to
look in there". Heh.

We used to work for a company that was so liberal in their netsurfing policies that it
was not surprising to walk past some people with full-on smut on their screens.

No more of course but that was early in the internet explosion.

Yeeeees, that would work great for me.
- a mathematical physicist

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Moderator

It just occurred to me how incredibly dangerous Spotlight is. I picked up a friends computer and searched for "whore"....all kinds of (presumably private) items popped up. Another girl I know has a Mac..I type in c*ck while she's in the bathroom and a boatload of porn is instantly at my fingtertips.

Phew...made me nervous...I'd like a utility that password protects or disables it when needed.

If you're stepping away for a moment, log out of your computer boys....who knows what could pop up.

You are a great friend. [/SARCASM!!!!!!!!!!1]

I hope I don't have "friends" like you.

[nica]

Originally Posted by leperkuhn

all my porn is given descriptive names so i can search for it with spotlight. i find this to be most helpful during my personal time.

I salute you! This is efficiency at it's best!?

[GSixZero]

I change the permissions of folders to zero to protect them. It's easy to change back to access, but stops people who don't know what they're doing.

Edited to add that I typed some terms into spotlight and found porn I didn't even know I had! Mostly files from backups of other people's computers though :-/

[Targon]

Originally Posted by fisherKing

hardly a spotlight issue.

you could just search the drives with command-F, and find stuff.
or open some folders and look around...


that said, i find it hard to believe that the porn on your friends computers was so cleverly named...

I see no difference at all. Command + F will find the exact same files spotlight does on my system. It always has.