X

Ten popular menubar extras

Apple has pushed developers to take advantage of the Dock and Dashboard features of OS X for small utilities and widget-like functionality; however, many people appreciate the even smaller and less intrusive nature of the menu bar for holding various util

CNET staff
2 min read

Apple has pushed developers to take advantage of the Dock and Dashboard features of OS X for small utilities and widget-like functionality; however, many people appreciate the even smaller and less intrusive nature of the menu bar for holding various utilities they access. Here are some popular menu bar add-ons that have helped OS X users with various functions:

  • SpaceControl 1.0.3
    This utility tracks used and available disk space on the drives attached to your system, and allows you to set alerts based on used space thresholds.
  • CPU Speed Menu 1.3
    There are many instances where people would like to change the speed of their CPUs on-demand, rather than having the system automatically set the speed based on power and computing conditions. This menu utility changes CPU speed on the fly.
  • BootChamp 1.0.2
    If you regularly use bootcamp, having an option to swiftly reboot into windows from OS X on your menu bar may come in handy.
  • Monitor 2.4
    Keep track of updates and changes to various popular web portal sites, including webmail, twitter, RSS readers, paypal, and various blogs of your choosing, all in a drop-down menu.
  • BdCalendar 1.18 (OS X section)
    This is a simple menu calendar with iCal support, which can come in handy instead of having to keep iCal open or in the dock.
  • BwanaDik 3.2.1
    This utility can be exceptionally useful if your computer has a dynamically changing IP address and you need to connect to it for file-sharing and other services. When your IP address changes, it will notify you by email.
  • WeatherDock 2.5.1
    Display current weather information and forecasts from weather.com in your menu bar and other locations.
  • iStat Menus 1.3
    Monitor your entire system's resources with this highly configurable menu. Among the items you can monitor are: memory usage, CPU usage, disk activity and status, network transfers, temperatures, fan speeds, and bluetooth/wireless status.
  • PTHVolume 2.2.0
    This is a useful alternative to the built-in volume control, which allows for multi-channel volume adjustment and keyboard volume control support for non-apple keyboards.
  • Caffeine 1.0.4
    If you've ever been irritated by the computer going to sleep on you or switching to screen saver, but don't want to change your energy-saver settings, this menu extra will temporarily disable sleep and screen savers for a set amount of time.

Have a favorite menubar add-on? Post it!

Resources

  • SpaceControl 1.0.3
  • CPU Speed Menu 1.3
  • BootChamp 1.0.2
  • Monitor 2.4
  • BdCalendar 1.18
  • BwanaDik 3.2.1
  • WeatherDock 2.5.1
  • iStat Menus 1.3
  • PTHVolume 2.2.0
  • Caffeine 1.0.4
  • More from Late-Breakers