Instead of using the spacebar to select the top item (alphabetically) in a Finder window, the key of choice now is <tab>. If some item is (or items are) already selected in the window, first type <esc> to release the current selection(s), and then hit <tab>.

"Relearning" the Mac (i.e., using tab instead of space) is a small price to pay for the great convenience provided by QuickLook. Ever try to read a binary plist with TextEdit?

In 10.6.X, using Option-Up Arrow will automatically take you to the top item in a Finder window, and Option-Down Arrow will automatically go to the last item in a Finder window. In 10.5.X, this only works if an item is already selected.

If the window is sorted by date, does Option-Up Arrow select the "top" item... or does it select the first alphabetical item (regardless of position)?

IIRC, the old spacebar method was really about selecting something alphabetically. The cool thing about it is that: we can still navigate items in a window alphabetically by tapping on the tab key, even if the items are arranged in some non-alphabetical order. So, it also makes sense to start out by hitting tab at the outset (besides the fact that typing one key is easier than typing two).

Just tried it since I'm always sorted by name. Option-Up Arrow will select the top-most item in the list, not the first item alphabetically. The same is true for any of the sort headings (Label, Kind, Date Created, etc.). Pressing Tab then moves alphabetically among the items.

Renaming the quicklookd program worked for me
 

Open Terminal

cd /System/Library/Frameworks/QuickLook.framework/Resources/quicklookd.app/Contents/MacOS
sudo mv quicklookd quicklookd.disabled

how i shrunk quick look and sped up macosx lion
 

I was having the same issues.... quick look was taking up 565MB of virtual memory according to activity monitor...

I when into finder and turned off icon previews from the view menu...

Went to the desktop and turned off Icon previews (I had a lot of documents, pdfs etc on the desktop)...

as a result quick look shrunk in usage to 50 mbs...

Entire OSX lion is now functioning much better.

Another tip I found handy was when restarting/shutting down, do not check 'reopen windows upon restart' because this will hog up memory instead of clearing everything with the restart.

Hope it helps.

Quick Look quirk ...
 

Not sure why everyone is giving the original poster such a hard time. He is entitled to his opinion and goals.

I too would like to disable Quick Look in OSX 10.8.2 ML because it is has an annoying quirk and I don't find it particularly useful.

I have saved URLs in a desktop folder. (Saved in Snow Leopard.) When I click on the URL and the website launches, I can see and navigate the website no trouble. But then I notice the Finder icon bouncing in the dock and a warning message ... "You can't navigate within Quick Look. Do you want to open this item?"

When I select Open, a duplicate of the website window opens and again I get the bouncing Finder icon in the dock and again if I select Open I get a third website window open.

Quite frankly, it's more annoying than having whatever Quick Look advantage is suppose to offer. I am quite happy having this "upgrade" go away and revert back to just opening a document or website as I did in Snow Leopard.

Any clues how to disable Quick Look or resolve this issue?
Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure that is the expected behaviour. I would investigate this more before assuming it's an unwelcome feature and trying to disable a major core component of the Finder.
Firstly, check the behaviour in a brand new user account. Does the same thing happen?
Also, look at log messages in the Console and see if anything relevant is being written.
When you say "in a Desktop folder", what do you mean exactly? Do you mean in a subfolder of the Desktop location? Do you get the same behaviour if the folder is in any other location? The Desktop is a special case, and it's generally best not to store too many files and folders there.

I read somewhere else that Firefox-created URLs may exhibit the weird behavior, but that Safari-created URLs don't.

http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/945564

benwiggy ... thank you for your response.
1) I setup and logged in as a guest. (URLs I said were "desktop" are actually saved in an external hard drive folder.)
2) Double clicked on the Ex-Hard Drive folder as a guest and the URL booted up in Safari with the same thing happened. Bouncing Finder and the same error message.
3) Back as Admin, I tried coping the whole folder and dragging the URLs to that new desktop folder and immediately I get the bouncing Finder.

Not sure what you mean about "console."

Not sure why you consider Quick Look a "major core component of Finder." It wasn't in Finder before, never needed it and ML has been nothing but a slow, unstable irritant with numerous error messages. I have never experienced a new Apple OS with so many "fixes" necessary. Usually it's just plain sailing. Apple took their eyes off the ball here and I think they had a major attitude rethink. Such as ... we know we are right and we are going to do it our way ... like Microsoft ... and the Apple user be damned. It's all show and no substance.
Thanks for trying.

It sounds like you should reinstall the OS. That's probablytheeasiest way to fix your system, which is somehow hosed.

Quick Look has been a feature of OS X since Leopard (OS X 10.5), just over 5 years now.

A Guest user is a unique kind of login, and that's not what benwiggy was suggesting. Create a new user in your System Preferences/Users & Groups pane. Log out of your account, and log back in to your newly created account.
Double-click on one of your saved URLs. Do you still get the same result?

crabapple:
What model of Mac do you have?
Are you using the trackpad (on a Macbook) or a mouse? Is it an Apple mouse or a 3rd-party mouse?
I ask because Quick Look is usually triggered via the Space bar and just clicking (or double-clicking - which is what I assume you are doing) should not trigger Quick Look. So I thought perhaps your hardware is acting up somehow.

The other possibility is that your user account has somehow been configured to trigger Quick Look in some non-standard way (e.g. mouse clicks) and it is this second possibility that might be elucidated by the experiment of trying a different (freshly created) user account.

But if this doesn't get solved right away, please consider explaining in much more detail exactly where you have these saved URLs and exactly what you are doing, step by step. Some screen shots might help.

(Thank you all whom have responded. Awesome.)
1) iMac 27" 2009 Intel. (HD just replaced due to Seagate HD recall.)
2) WiFi Magic Mouse. All actions are from Magic Mouse clicks.
Attaching screen caps of the external HD where the URLs are saved and the URLs. Also the Quick Look error message. (Not familiar with how you attach images to this forum so I hope it works.)
I will try and redo the User thingie ... after the work day.
Thanks again.

Do you have another mouse? If so, try using that other mouse to see if the problem is limited to use of the Magic Mouse.

Also check your Magic Mouse preferences. It is possible to configure Magic Mouse to trigger Quick Look upon certain gestures. (See e.g.: http://mac.tutsplus.com/tutorials/cu...ur-macs-mouse/)
Perhaps you are inadvertently issuing the Quick Look command via a gesture.

BTW, Apple's "Magic Mouse" uses Bluetooth, not WiFi. Both are wireless but Bluetooth is for very short-range communications.

further rationale
 

Here is further rationale for tweaking quick look: crashes on start up, a screen that says you need to restart your computer. Crash logs viewed through console utility showed problems with quick look at start up. This thread showed up in a search. Suggested solutions are appreciated; snarky comments are not.

You described what is called a "kernel panic". There is a good list of troubleshooting steps here:

http://hintsforums.macworld.com/showthread.php?t=13846

Too many files
 

I think the main reason for disabling quicklook is because it loads up too many files to your computer. Files I have to delete several times a day. If I did not, it would be in the hundreds with in a few days.

What are you talking about? QuickLook doesn't generate ANY files. It merely displays them to you, and only upon your request.