One of the more annoying things about the generally great Spotlight is its Finder implementation. Maybe you already know that in order to search for a word in filenames only, use quotes around the search terms. (Maybe you didn’t.)

But here’s a new one. Command-F to bring up a search window forces you to start with terms “Kind” and “Last Opened”. These default to anything, so you can skip them, but it seems silly (and might have CPU implications) to start with global search terms. So instead, just type a space into the Spotlight search box of any Finder window. The space is ignored, and you’re switched to a view where you can begin refining your search terms before entering your information.