TIP: Retrieve a disappeared Spotlight menu

Okay, first: I know “disappeared” is not an adjective – but it conveyed my meaning, didn’t it? Next: I use the Spotlight menu more than the average bear. And, almost weekly it will up and disappear from my menu bar. I don’t know why it leaves, but here’s how to get it back:

TIP: Prevent Spotlight from searching the Trash

The whole point of the Trash is getting rid of things you don’t want anymore, and even if you empty it only every few months, it’s unlikely you want a Spotlight search to include its contents. But excluding the Trash from Spotlight indexing is not an obvious procedure, because it’s an invisible folder in the Finder-which would seem to make it pretty hard to drag it to the Spotlight preference pane’s Privacy (exclusion) list. However, it’s not difficult at all: