Sometimes, you want some of your useful apps to be handy. There’s an app for that. One that will stay in your menu bar, always ready for you. This is a list of what’s in my menu bar.

GeekTool
This is an awesome System Pref Pane tool for Mac OS X which allows you to display lots of different bits of information directly on your desktop. It comes with three modules: the file,  shell, and image plugins. Each of these can be used to display the contents of files on your desktop (like log files), the output of shell scripts, and image graphics (like RRD or MRTG graphs). I use this tool for ALL of my desktop customizations.

Anxiety
This is probably the quickest way to view your iCal to-do list. Just click on Anxiety’s menu bar icon and it will display your lists on the desktop. You can also add items to your list through the use of this tool.

aLunch
This menu bar tool is an application and file launcher. You can set up different folders for certain applications. I have all my Adobe apps in the Adobe file, iWork and iLife apps in its own file, Microsoft with its apps, etc., etc. It also shows Active apps in the top of the drop down menu and you can customize this tool to your liking.

AllBookmarks
This tool gives you quick access to all of your bookmarks. All your Safari, Firefox and Flock bookmarks are shown and can be selected from within the menu bar and opens in your default browser.

WeatherDock2
This tool has many features that allow you to display weather information any way you like.
You can have your weather display in a window, in the menu bar, in the dock, or on the desktop with full customization. It works by displaying weather information based on xml-feeds from weather.com®. It displays textual weather information as well as icon-based information. This tool has so many features, I can’t list them all!

Bowtie
This tool allows you to control iTunes with shortcuts. It also submits your latest songs listened to in iTunes to your  Last.fm account (if you have an account with them). There are also a few cool themes for Bowtie.

Growl
This tool is a notification system for Mac OS X that allows applications that support Growl to send you notifications. (Notifications are a way for your apps to provide you with new information without having to switch from an application you are already in.) You have complete control over what notifications are shown and how they are displayed. If you don’t want to receive any notifications from an application, just uncheck it and it turns off the notification for that app. It automatically starts when you start your Mac (which can also be shut off, but that would defeat the purpose). All of your notification preferences are centralized into its preference pane (which happens to also be in system prefs) which makes it easier to control them all in one place.

Yahoo Widgets
This tool is similar to Dashboard widgets, except they stay on your desktop (if you want them to). Yahoo has a HUGE list of widgets that you can choose from. You can also have the Yahoo dock which houses all of your widgets start up with your Mac. This dock can be moved wherever you’d like in its preferences. There are lots of cool widgets to choose from.

iStat
This tool provides you with a quick glance of your CPU, Memory, Network, Disk, and Heat Sinks all from the menu bar. You can decide what you want to display in the menu bar inside your System Prefs.  This is a very cool system monitoring tool.

F.lux
This tool makes the color of your display adapt to the time of day. When the sun sets, F.lux makes your computer look like indoor lighting.  In the morning, you have the sunlight effect. When you install it, you can set the kind of lighting you have in the preferences and thats it. F.lux does the rest automatically. You also have the option to disable it (when you’re watching movies or designing works of art – LOL).

All of the menu bar applications mentioned are FREE!!! To go to the link to download an app, just click on the name of the app and you will be directed to the download page of the application. Also, as usual, you can click on the thumbnail of the pictures to view them larger. This concludes my list of menu bar apps, what’s on YOUR menu bar?
-TINA