Product Reviews

Spotlaser is another alternative interface to the system-level Spotlight search technology that's now embedded in Mac OS X. While Spotlight does a great job of finding stuff on your hard disk, its interface comes in for a lot of criticism, particularly for the way it finds while you type without waiting to see what the whole search term might be. Spotlaser addresses this issue.

Its window is divided

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into sections to make it easier to find exactly what you're after. At the top is a blue-bordered search box that looks exactly like the Spotlight menubar Widget and is for quick filename-only searches. The next four sections are titled What, Where, When and Who.

Having entered the search terms, Spotlaser passes the request on to Spotlight, which promptly spits out the results in a new Smart Folder window in the Finder. A checkbox control in Spotlaser lets you decide in advance if this will be a search you want to save for repeated use later on.

Spotlaser is a nicer way to search than Spotlight, especially as it offers a way around the Spotlight search results window by sending the output directly to the Finder.

It's donationware, but looks professionally built and designed. We only spotted one bug, whereby the File size selector in the What section doesn't work. On the whole, though, Spotlaser is a nicely made, low-cost alternative to Spotlight's annoyances.