What's in your Menu Bar?

[Amethyst1]

I know I could plough through the "Post Your Desktop Background" thread but anyway... here goes: I'm interested in the things you have in your Menu Bar, mainly due to the likelihood of discovering new "extras" I'm not aware of.

Here's mine on my 2011 MBP, only non-stock additions are Retina Display Menu, smcFanControl and MenuMeters. My PPC systems are mostly the same minus RDM and smcFanControl as well as iStat menus instead of MenuMeters.

 

[Eightbitgamer757]

srry had to

 

[fuchsdh]

Dropbox, Creative Cloud, Lacie RAID manager (which randomly duped itself awhile back but I haven't bothered fixing), 1Password, Backblaze, Razer Synapse, GrowlTunes (for universal playback controls for iTunes), Breaktime (which I'll probably remove soon as my Apple Watch serves a similar function), Gmail Notifier for all my Gmail accounts, iStat Menus, and then the default Mac ones.

 

[eyoungren]

My 17" PowerBook.

From left to right…Fastscripts, Caffiene, LittleSnapper, LittleSnitch Network Monitor, PC Card icon, TimeMachine, Processor icon, Script icon, SMART Utility, Bluetooth icon, iStat Menus (including the time), Power, Airport and Spotlight icons.

Geektool showing system.log file underneath.

My other PowerPC Macs are all set up similarly.

EDIT: Two I missed that you cannot see to the left of FastScripts. F.lux and Yahoo Widgets.

 

[B S Magnet]

legend:
1) iBook clamshell G3/466 XGA [T]
2) Dual Processor G5/2.0 PCI-X 2 [L]
3) PowerBook G4/1.67 DLSD 17" [L]
4) MacBook Pro i5/2.3 13" [SL]

(no idea why the last 3 show AirPort not running — they all are, with the PowerBook running Airport from an 802.11n PC Card; not seen, GeekTool load average displays just under the UPS charge area on the G5)

 

[eyoungren]

PowerMac G5 Quad.

Power Mac G5 Dual Core.

17" MacBook Pro.

 

[Raging Dufus]

15" PowerBook G4 HR/DLSD (A1138)

Starting at the "paw" and moving right:

1. Tigerlaunch (application launcher).
2. Jumpcut (clipboard manager).
3. iStat Menus (meters for temperature, network activity, memory & CPU usage).
4. Of course you know about Bluetooth, Airport, and volume level.
5. American flag from the International language menu (because I just like seeing it there ).
6. And of course you know about battery level, clock, and Spotlight too.

 

[galgot]

Love menu apps.
Here form some of my current machines:

MacBookPro8,3 17" 2.4Ghz, 10.11 ElCapitan
- DropBox
- ExpanDrive 6.4.3
- VMware Fusion 8.1.0 MenuApp.
- DesktopUtility 2.0
- ScreenSharingMenulet 2.8
- Secure Pipes 0.99.8
- BetterSnapTool 1.9
- Itsycal 0.10.16
- GeekTool 3.3.1
- RebusFarm 2.0
- PopClip 1.5.5
- lil’snitch 3.7
Rest is factory stuff.

MacBookPro2,1 17" 2,33 GHz, 10.6.8 SnoLeopard.
- ScreenSharingMenulet 2.8
- Timbuktu 8.8.5 menuapp.
- Hyperspace 1.1.1
- GeekTool 3
- PopClip 1.5.2
- Bevy 1.0.11
- teleport 1.0.1
- Nocturne 2.0.0
- Caffeine 1.1.1
- MainMenu 2.0.2
- iStat Menus 4.05
- Day-O 1.1
Rest is cider.

PowerBook5,7 17" 1.67Ghz, 10.5.8 Leopard.
- Timbuktu 6.0.1 menu app. Yes... Nocturne doesn't make it inverted like other menu icons in 10.5 :/ have yet to find how to hack that.
- Hyperspace 1.1.1
- GeekTool 3
- Bevy 1.0.11
- Teleport 1.0.1
- Nocturne 2.0.0
- Invizi-PPC 1.2 , this is small menu app made with Platypus 4.4, it just launches a script to show/hide invisible files in the Finder.
- HiDesk 0.7, Same a previous, done with Platypus, to hide/show everything on the desktop.
Rest is usual Apple stuff.

PowerMac8,1 (iMac G5) 20" 1.8Ghz, 10.4.11 Tiger.
- VirtueDesktop 0.54b5
- DropCopy 1.77
- Rawr-jour 0.6b5
- TelePort 1.0.1
- Caffeine 1.0.4
- Invizi-PPC 1.2
- HiDesk 0.7
- Timbuktu 6.0.1 menuapp, placed atop the unused Apple Fax menu...
- SynergyKM 1.0b6
Rest usual stuff.

 

[Project Alice]

Ahh
all these extra things in the menu bar give me anxiety lol. I'm super OSD with my desktop. My menu bar literally has nothing but what Mac OS comes with, and anything I don't use gets disabled (bluetooth, time machine). The only icons allowed on my desktop are the drives.

 

[bobesch]

My favorites (besides Macs standards menu icons):
- Bartender: creates a second row for menu-bar-items to keep things out of sight ...
- Caffein*
- ScreenSharingMenulet*
- CCC
- VPN-status
- IP in MenuBar*
- MacsFanControl / TG pro
- BassJump2
- Dropbox
- OneDrive
- GoogleDrive
- (TM) Backup Schedule
- Mountain

*(intel+PPC)

Optional:
- Radium
- Mountain Duck
- AirFoil / Airfoil-Speakers
- AirParrot
- Avatron AirDisplay
- Synergy / teleport
- LabTick
- Paste
- Oversight
- 1Keyboard
- IP Messenger

 

[eyoungren]

- IP in MenuBar*

Why?

iStat Menus gives you that. Just need to click on the network section. Or is it simply because you just want to see the IP address at a glance without clicking on anything?

 

[Raging Dufus]

Lots of cool stuff here.

But I have a question about one in particular: Caffeine. I see several of you use it, but from my very cursory investigation all I can see it does is keep your Mac "awake." So, my question is, why use an application for that, when the same thing can be accomplished through the Energy Saver system preference pane? I've got to be missing something here, what's the value in running Caffeine?

 

[galgot]

Lots of cool stuff here.

But I have a question about one in particular: Caffeine. I see several of you use it, but from my very cursory investigation all I can see it does is keep your Mac "awake." So, my question is, why use an application for that, when the same thing can be accomplished through the Energy Saver system preference pane? I've got to be missing something here, what's the value in running Caffeine?

For myself, it's laziness. Easier to move the cursor up to the menu bar and click than opening energy Pref system, then remember how to make it keep awake...

 

[eyoungren]

Lots of cool stuff here.

But I have a question about one in particular: Caffeine. I see several of you use it, but from my very cursory investigation all I can see it does is keep your Mac "awake." So, my question is, why use an application for that, when the same thing can be accomplished through the Energy Saver system preference pane? I've got to be missing something here, what's the value in running Caffeine?

Well, to use Energy Saver as you suggest you have to open System Preferences and change the settings. Then you need to change them back when finished.

The idea behind Caffiene is that you don't need to do that. Just click once on the icon and the Mac is prevented from sleeping. No adjustments necessary.

So that's the next part of your question…why would you want to do that?

There's a variety of reasons. I use Caffiene on my Quad because there are many times where I am eating in front of the computer while browsing the internet. Having to jiggle the mouse to turn the screen back on while reading when my hands are full of messy sandwich or some other food is not really conducive to keeping things clean. Caffiene prevents the Mac from turning the display off.

Right now I'm using it because I have a copy process going and I want to monitor it. It's a 165GB copy and I don't want the screen off.

If I'm doing something on the Mac and I walk away I may not want the screen to turn off of a variety of reasons. Caffiene lets me do that.

But click on it again so that the display/Mac can sleep and everything goes back to normal behavior. I didn't have to mess with the Energy Saver settings at all.

I'd wager other people have the same reasons for using it.

EDIT: Caffiene is also versatile. You can set it for how long you want it to delay sleep/display off. Mine is set to Indefinitely, but you can set it for a number of minutes or hours. After that time it switches off. So, no second clicking needed if you do that. And if you want longer or shorter than what you set it to you can right click on it and set it temporarily for a different time length. It all depends on how long you want/need it on and the way you use it.

PS. Caffiene is also for Windows. I have it on my Thinkpad and currently it's engaged (another copy operation I want to monitor).

 

[galgot]

Well, to use Energy Saver as you suggest you have to open System Preferences and change the settings. Then you need to change them back when finished.

The idea behind Caffiene is that you don't need to do that. Just click once on the icon and the Mac is prevented from sleeping. No adjustments necessary.

So that's the next part of your question…why would you want to do that?

There's a variety of reasons. I use Caffiene on my Quad because there are many times where I am eating in front of the computer while browsing the internet. Having to jiggle the mouse to turn the screen back on while reading when my hands are full of messy sandwich or some other food is not really conducive to keeping things clean. Caffiene prevents the Mac from turning the display off.

Right now I'm using it because I have a copy process going and I want to monitor it. It's a 165GB copy and I don't want the screen off.

If I'm doing something on the Mac and I walk away I may not want the screen to turn off of a variety of reasons. Caffiene lets me do that.

But click on it again so that the display/Mac can sleep and everything goes back to normal behavior. I didn't have to mess with the Energy Saver settings at all.

I'd wager other people have the same reasons for using it.

Same thing.
Plus the ones I put Caffeine on are the ones I connect sometime via remote desktop. If I want one of these to keep awake for whatever reason and I'm not in front of it, it's easier from a VNC window to just click on Caffeine.

 

[bobesch]

Why?

iStat Menus gives you that. Just need to click on the network section. Or is it simply because you just want to see the IP address at a glance without clicking on anything?

Well, sounds convincing - I think I have to give "iStat Menus a try" ...

So far I was happy with "IP in menu bar" on both PPC- and intel-Macs and it did serve me well for a random quick peep, whenever I forgot the IP address for remote access. Convenient like Caffein.

Edit:
God gracious... as a narrowed minded person I 'm gonna need a couple of days to sort out the overwhelming options of iStatMenus. ("Keep it to what you know...")

 

[TC_GoldRush]

 

[B S Magnet]

[doublepost=1556515408][/doublepost]

So far I was happy with "IP in menu bar" on both PPC- and intel-Macs

I've used DHCP-assigned static IPs (with a specific convention) for my devices for so long that this step wouldn't be necessary for me. Basically all my devices started maybe 15 years ago with my first Yikes! G4 being x.x.x.10 for wireless and x.x.x.110 for the LAN connection. Each new device subsequent to that gets the next for wireless and LAN, respectively (and for a couple of devices, redundant wireless gets assigned x.x.x.2yy).

So for the 17" PB I recently bought, it's .24 for the PC Card 802.11n, .124 on the LAN, and the OEM Airport, though usually off, is .224. This tends to be how I think of the devices I connect to, sometimes even before I remember their .local names.

I’m also mindful this is probably a peculiar way of doing things.

 

[eyoungren]

I’m also mindful this is probably a peculiar way of doing things.

Not necessariy.

There was a time on my home network where every device was assigned a static IP starting with .101 for my first device (Youngren1), .102 for Youngren 2, etc.

Eventually that fell apart due to the number of devices that came into the house later that weren't computers (although the naming conventions have remained the same) as well as several resets of the network due to circumstance.

The original thought was that any device showing a lower IP would be identified as an intruder on my network and the internet was denied for addresses between .04 and .99.

That has all since scattered to the four winds, although I try to assign static IPs as I deal with devices. Mainly now though that's on the machine side versus the router side.

However, my server has two specific assignments: .100 for the first NIC and it deals with outside traffic while the second NIC is .101 and deals with internal traffic. Printers start at .115 and go up from there while additional routers are at .150 and .200, depending (outside the range of the DHCP IP assignment.

So…not too peculiar.

 

[Raging Dufus]

...what's the value in running Caffeine?

Ok, so I tried Caffeine.

I'm studying like a madman lately, on and off my MBP w/external display. Lots of electronic docs to sort through on screen while I also handle paper docs, refer to books, write notes, etc. Sometimes I'm off the keyboard/mouse for extended periods, and it's distracting to have both displays going to sleep regularly; interrupts my flow. It's also kind of a pain to adjust the Energy Saver settings knowing I'll have to go back and change them again when I take the MBP out.

So yeah, I get it now. This is much more convenient. Plus there's a steaming cup o' joe on my menu bar now

Thanks guys!

 

[eyoungren]

Ok, so I tried Caffeine.

I'm studying like a madman lately, on and off my MBP w/external display. Lots of electronic docs to sort through on screen while I also handle paper docs, refer to books, write notes, etc. Sometimes I'm off the keyboard/mouse for extended periods, and it's distracting to have both displays going to sleep regularly; interrupts my flow. It's also kind of a pain to adjust the Energy Saver settings knowing I'll have to go back and change them again when I take the MBP out.

So yeah, I get it now. This is much more convenient. Plus there's a steaming cup o' joe on my menu bar now

Thanks guys!

Yeah, it does one thing and one thing only, but it makes things so damn convenient. And now you get why.

Glad it turned out to be a boon for you.

 

[bobesch]

Ok, I tried "iStat Menu": too much Information for my little brain ...

So these are my bread & butter menubar-items - mostly related to networking and storage.
("Keep it to what you know/need ...")

1st row:
- MacsFanControl
- Cloud: GoogleDrive / OneDrive / iCloud / Dropbox
- CarbonCopyCloner (my main backup-solution)
- ScreenSharingMenulet (for easy access to ScreenSharing)
- Mountain (mount/unmount connected media)
- Caffein
- Bartender (for second menu-row)
- VPN-Connection
- ExpressCard-slot information (for USB3.0-card/CardReader; can't be removed unfortunately)
etc.
2nd row:
- IP in MenuBar (well, I just need the IP-address as simple as possible)
- BassJump (prefs for great BassJump subwoofer)
- Scripts
- VMware Fusion menu
- ForkLift (for fast webDAV-mounting)
etc.

 

[eyoungren]

Ok, I tried "iStat Menu": too much Information for my little brain ...

iStat Menus allows you to control what you see in the menu bar.

You don't have to put it all in there.

 

[bobesch]

iStat Menus allows you to control what you see in the menu bar.
You don't have to put it all in there.

Yeah, I know, but I would tinker with the settings for hours to make up my mind, what to show and what to hide ...
There's a lot of very interesting information, that can be gained by iStatMenus, but currently most of 'em wouldn't have any impact on my work and decisions and the whole thing would rather distract me (which, in fact easily happens).

 

[LFO8]

On the topic of iStats Menus; I have iStats Menus 6 installed on my 5,1 Mac Pro with six-core single CPU. Why does iStats Menus insist on displaying CPU A and CPU B in the menu when clearly there can't be any data to show for CPU B as my machine has just 1 CPU?

Is iStats simply not reading the system correctly?