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Remove the User Name from the Menu Bar in Mac OS X

Jan 10, 2012 - 17 Comments
Name shown in the menu bar of OS X Lion

On some fresh OS X installations, you’ll find the user name or login appears in the upper right corner of the menu bar, even if there is only one user account on the Mac. This is actually a feature called Fast User Switching, and the name likely appears in the menu bar due to the … Read More

How to Remove Icons from the Menu Bar in Mac OS X

Jan 5, 2012 - 26 Comments
Remove menu bar icons

If your Mac menu bar is starting to resemble an icon farm, remember that you can remove items from the menu bar by holding down the Command key and dragging items out of the menu. The icon will disappear into a puff of dust, the same way an icon from the Dock or sidebar disappear.

Manage Drives & Mounted Volumes from the Mac OS X Menu Bar with FreeSpaceTab

Dec 31, 2011 - 7 Comments
FreeSpace Tab

FreeSpaceTab is a free utility that lets you manage hard disks and mounted volumes directly from the Mac OS X menu bar. With an attractive and simple GUI, you can pull the menu down to see all mounted drives and partitions, arranged by volume type (local drives, disk images, network volumes, etc) as well as … Read More

Get a Calendar in the Mac OS X Menu Bar with Day-O, a Date & Time Replacement

Nov 3, 2011 - 24 Comments
Day-O is a free menu bar calendar and clock replacement for Mac OS X

One of my longstanding peeves with Mac OS X is the lack of a pull-down calendar in the menubars default Date & Time settings. If you click on the time, instead of seeing something useful like a calendar or more date/time details, you just have options to set an analog clock or open Preferences. I’ll … Read More

Get 4 Useful Mac OS X Features in your Menu Bar with DesktopUtility

Jul 26, 2011 - 11 Comments
Desktop Utility for Mac OS X

If you don’t want to deal with manually hiding and showing the desktop icons, showing hidden files, accessing the user library directory, and forcibly emptying the Trash, grab DesktopUtility for your menu bar. It’s a free and simple app that offers those four useful features directly in the menu bar, preventing you from using any … Read More

Show Weather & Temperature in the Mac OS X Menu bar

Jul 12, 2011 - 8 Comments
Weather and Temperature in the Mac OS X Menu Bar

We showed you how to display the CPU temperature in your Mac OS X menu bar, but what about showing the real temperature outdoors? A little free app called Meteorologist does just that, sitting in your menubar and giving you weather updates on the locations you specify. Meteorologist puts a tracked locations temperature along with … Read More

Display CPU Temperature in the Mac OS X Menu Bar

Jul 11, 2011 - 7 Comments
CPU and Hardware Temperature Monitor in the Mac OS X Menu Bar

If you want to keep an eye on your Mac’s CPU temperature, you can choose between two different apps to display the temperature right in your menu bar. If you’re running Mac OS X 10.6.8 or lower, both apps are free, but if you’re on Lion then you’ll have to pay for one of the … Read More

Show your IP Address in the Menu Bar of OS X with IPMenulet

Jun 30, 2011 - 4 Comments
IP Address in the Menu Bar

Do you need your computers IP address often? If so, IPMenulet is likely the quickest way to have the number handy all the time, it’s a free and simple menu item that displays your current external IP address in the Mac OS X menu bar, there’s no other frills or features.

Monitor System Activity in the Mac OS X Menu Bar for Free with iStat Menu 2

Jun 24, 2011 - 12 Comments

You can display and monitor virtually all essential system activity directly from your Mac OS X menu bar using a great utility called iStat Menu:

Get Detailed WiFi Info From the Menu Bar in Mac OS X

Jun 15, 2011 - 13 Comments
Option-click Wi-Fi menu extended details in Mac OS X

You can retrieve extended wireless connectivity data and details from anywhere within Mac OS X by using a nifty trick that toggles the Wi-Fi menu bar item to display additional specifics about any wireless router. To do this, hold down the Option key and then click on the WiFi menu icon found on the Mac.

Show Analog Clock in the Mac Menu Bar

May 27, 2011 - 3 Comments
Show the Analog Clock in the Mac OS X Menu Bar

Tired of the lengthy digital clock showing in the Mac OS X menu bar? You can go for a minimalist approach by setting the clock to display as an analog (that is, the old fashioned clocks with a face and hands), which will take up much less space and helps to clean up an otherwise … Read More

Get a Black iOS Style Menu Bar in Mac OS X

May 25, 2011 - 17 Comments
Get a Black Menu Bar in Mac OS X

Distracted by your menu bar? If you want a stylish iOS-like black menu bar in Mac OS X but don’t want to go all out with an iOS / Mac desktop, you should grab Nocturne, it’s free and adds some pizazz to your Mac desktop. Nocturne actually serves several other purposes intended to make the … Read More

Show Remaining Battery Life in the Mac OS X Menu Bar

Mar 14, 2011 - 10 Comments
MacBook AIr 2012 Battery Life

If you’ve ever wondered how much battery life is remaining on a MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air, you should set the battery icon in the OS X status bar to display some additional details, like the percentage remaining. This gives you an immediate idea of how much longer you can use a Mac.

How to Hide the Mac Menu Bar in Older Versions of OS X

Feb 24, 2011 - 12 Comments

Want to hide the Mac menu bar? You can do that and set a few more options to automatically hide and show the menu bar with a free utility called MenuEclipse, the end result is pretty similar to the way you can automatically hide and show the Dock. In the screenshot above, I have the … Read More

Show Weather in the Mac OS X Menu Bar

Feb 16, 2011 - 6 Comments

MenuWeather Lite is a great little free app that shows your current locations weather in the Mac OS X menu bar. As you can see in the screenshot, the menu bar item is just a discrete little icon representing conditions along with the current temperature. That’s pretty neat in and of itself, but if you … Read More

How to Rearrange the Menu Bar Icons in the Mac OS X Menu Bar

Aug 11, 2009 - 7 Comments
Finder

The Mac menu bar contains icons for things like the status indicators and toggles of various apps, including a clock, date, time, battery, wi-fi status, sound and volume levels, displays, Time Machine backup status, user account, Spotlight, a Notifications toggle, and much more. There’s a lot of data and status details in those menu bar … Read More

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