Reduce search sensitivity in Spotlight

Question

OS X' search is almost useless with the hundreds of irrelevant items it produces.

Is there any way to reduce its sensitivity?

Answer 1

Do you mean Spotlight, or the Find command? Searching within Finder gives you a very flexible set of options. Use the search field in the top right of the Finder window, add additional constraints using the plus icon. You can change the default listed constraints by adding or removing options. This article is a little old but aside from cosmetic differences still gives a good overview of the process.