Only eight items here: Spotlight, Users, Clock, Input Menu (the little flag), Airport, Time Machine, Menumeters RAM usage and processor activity.

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I have Evernote, Typinator, Quicksilver,YouControl Tunes, Hazel, MagicMenu (Stuffit), ProShutdown, Little Snitch, MenuCalendarClock, iChat, MenuMeter Network Activity, MenuMeter Disk Activity, Spaces, Apple Remote Desktop, Time Macine, Volume Control, and Spotlight. I turned off Pathfinder and Applescript. I really don't need the Volume Control since I use the keyboard (thanks Quicksilver!).



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You probably also don't need the iTunes control since QuickSilver will do that as well!

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I Have:
Spotlight, MenuCalendarClock (iCal), Volume, Airport, Bluetooth, AppleVPN, iSync, AppleScript, InterMapper Control, Contour Shutlle, Shimo (Cisco VPN), Salling Clicker, BluePhoneElite & MoodBlast.

Hidden is at least:
QuickSilver, TelePort, Qmaster, Growl, Plaxo Sync, and all other Apple ones

---
/Marook

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From Right to Left: Spotlight, Users, Clock, Bluetooth, Battery, Volume, Airport, Displays, iSync, TimeMachine, and Last.FM

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Airport, iSync, Time Machine, iChat, Monitors, Audio, AppleScript, Keyboard, Date/Time, User, Eject, Spotlight

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12 including sound, monitor, bluetooth, airport, charge, isynch, modem, applescript, spaces and Time machine, input (international), clock (and also Fast user switching!)

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spotlight, x-assist, fast user switching, date/time, keyboard, bluetooth, battery, volume, airport, displays, keychain, scripting, .mac, time machine, semulov, coconut wifi, weatehr dock, marco polo, and adium

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Menu Meters, Google Notifier, Coversutra, and my own Quick Launch/Hot Key tool, among others, in order of when they first appeared on my menu bar.

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If it were up to me, it would be 0....unfortunately some features and apps (scripts menu, jumpcut, cover sutra, shimo among others) require it. I resisted this clutter for several years after switching to a mac but have finally succumbed.

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I would be interested to know how folks with lots of menu bar icons manage them. Two problems I find:
1) Left menu takes over right menu hiding left most menu bar icons (especially on a small MacBook screen with a big menu like FireFox)
2) Some apps insist on putting functionality only in menu bar icons. App developers: thank you for making menu bar shortcuts, but please give users other ways to access your application if we don't feel we need ready access it to it all the time.

I would love to see the control strip come back to life. Some menu bar items are great enough to always live in the menu. Others, I'd love to have around... but just don't have the space.

How hard a project do you think it would be to make a collapsable customizable menu the plays well with the current menu bar item plugins?

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Actually, there is a collapsible menubar add-on which I use: Butler - a lot of secondary functionality that would otherwise take up even more menu bar space have icons that I've instead replaced with icons and functions from within Butler that I've put in Butler's docklet (i.e. the Fast User Switching menu). I have it anchored to the upper right of my screen and I have Accordion Mode enabled, so it quietly stays out of my way until I mouse over it.

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from right to left...

01 spotlight
02 fast user switching
03 date/time
04 script menu
05 menu meters cpu stats
06 menu meters disk stats
07 menu meters memory stats
08 menu meters network stats
09 keychain menu
10 little snitch network monitor
11 smcFanControl
12 himmelbar
13 quicksilver


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Ugh, I have:

AFPstatus, iAlertU, CoverSutra, SofaControl, Isolator, Mozy, ClamXAVSentry, Typinator, VirtueDesktops, Plaxo, MarcoPolo, Hallon, LogMeIn, SMCFanControl, MainMenu, Network (MenuMeters), Memory/Temperature/Bluetooth/Date (iStat menus), SoundSource, Volume, Displays, AirPort, Battery, Keychain, Input Menu, Spotlight and MenuCalendarClock for iCal.

Believe it or not, I actually had more...

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I lost my Spotlight menu and can't get it back...

I don't know how I removed it... I probably [Cmd-Dragged] it off the bar accidentally...

Any idea how I can fix it?

BTW, I've got [sheepishly]23[/sheepishly], but most of those are from iStat Menus.

---
Father of Jeremy & Elliott

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Really? if you figure it out let us know. I'd love to get rid of it.

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I don't know how I got rid of it... But it came back...

---
Father of Jeremy & Elliott

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PTHCPUMonitor
URL Manager Pro
CheckOff
WeatherSnitch
SlimBatteryMonitor
Process Wizard
Timbuktu
Displays
Airport
MenuMeters Memory
International
FUS (icon only)
MenuCalendarClock 4 iCal
Spotlight



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Quicksilver, Mailplane, Anxiety, WeatherDock, Growl, smcFanControl, Security, TimeMachine, iSync, Airport, Displays, Energy Saver, Bluetooth, International, Spaces, Day/Time, iChat, Script menu, Fast User Switching, Spotlight

This is clearly out of control and I need to get rid of a 1/4 of these at least.




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1. Spotlight, 2. Fast User Switching, 3. Date & Time, 4. Input menu,
5. Battery, 6. Volume, 7. AirPort, 8. iSync,
9. Time Machine, 10. Displays, 11. Keychain Access, 12. Script Menu
13. Growl, 14. Skitch, 15. iScrobbler, 16. Adium

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RemoteBuddy, JumpCut, TextExpander, Teleport, MenuMeters × 4, iScrobbler, and popular ones alredy mentioned…

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Spotlight, day/time, volume, wifi, bluetooth, time machine, displays, faxmodem, alarm clock 2, iKeys, adium.

2.8 GHz 8-core Mac Pro w/ 8 GB RAM, 1 Terabyte HD (2, .5 TB drives), dual displays (1 landscape and one portrait), lots of external stuff via USB and firewire.

---
--fyngyrz


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For me it's: Psi, Skitch, Google Notifier, SMARTReporter, Sophos, Keychain Access, Bluetooth, Date/Time, Spotlight

(Psi is a Jabber client, Sophos is an AntiVirus app; mandated at office)

If anyone else is interested in what comes up most often, here's a scorecard for things getting two or more mentions (so far):

13 : Spotlight
11 : AirPort
10 : Date/Time
9 : Displays, Fast User Switching, Time Machine, Volume
8 : MenuMeters
7 : Bluetooth
6 : iSync
5 : Battery, Keychain Access, Script Menu
4 : Input Menu, MenuCalendarClock, QuickSilver
3 : Adium, AppleScript, CoverSutra, Growl, iChat, SMCFanControl, Spaces
2 : Google Notifier, International, iScrobbler, JumpCut, Keyboard, Little Snitch, MarcoPolo, Plaxo Sync, Shimo, Skitch, TelePort, Typinator, WeatherDock

Looks like MenuMeters is the most commonly used non-Apple Menu Item, followed (a ways down) by MenuCalendarClock and QuickSilver (I use QuickSilver, but don't see the point of putting a tool for avoiding mouse use... in the menubar).


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I'm surprised everyone uses MenuMeters vs. iStatMenus. I find iStatMenus more useful and better looking. Am I missing something?

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I use iStatMenus; it seems to work great for me.

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I've used MenuMeters on occasion, but never heard of iStat Menus -- I initially thought everyone meant "plain" iStat, which is uninteresting (to me) because I never have that much unused screen space, but iStat Menus looks kinda cool, and is here: iStat Menus.

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iStat can't show disk activity in menu icon, you have to click it to get graph. MenuMeters' aqua diodes are very nice and as good as floppy diodes on Amiga :)

iStat's CPU graph is wrapped in a border and has 2-pixel padding on top and bottom. That's pretty wasteful for such tiny graph. MenuMeters uses entire available space.

Memory Pie Chart has rendering glitch – a bit on the left is cropped (my OCD can't stand this)

iStat beats MenuMeters in quality of dropdowns and has temperature and RPM meters, but for me these aren't more important than disk activity and icon rendering.

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Coversutra, Quicksilver, MacFusion, NetworkLocation, SlimBatteryMonitor, Applescript Menu, Time Machine, GeekTool, SynergyKM, Bluetooth, Airport, Fast User Switch, MenuCalendarClock, Spotlight. Phew!

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Google notifiers (gives me two icons, calendar and gmail)
Plaxo
Anxiety
Network graph (MenuMeters)
iSync menu
Bluetooth menu
Spaces menu
Keyboard menu
Clock
Spotlight

Actually, I think I'll toss out Spaces, since I never use the menu to access it... =]

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R2L:
Spotlight
iStat Menu Date and Time
Airport
Time Machine
Battery (either SlimBatteryMonitor, or, if it's not working, the built-in one)
Google Notifier
Adium
SonicSwap

I have hidden:
TotalTunes Control
Quicksilver

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I stopped showing mounted volumes on the desktop, and instead show them in the menubar using Butler, so the number can change a bit.

Left to right Wetherdock, Growl, Missing Sync, Airfoil Speakers, Ejector, Little Snitch, 5 volumes, Butler, iChat, Time Machine, iSync, UPS level, BLuetooth, Displays, Soundsource, Volume, Keyboard layout (German/English), time/date, Spotlight.

I probably only need half of those.

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There really should be some way to manage these better. I miss the old "control strip" in OS 9...

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RTL:

Spotlight, X-Assist, Fast User Switching, Clock, Battery, Input Menu, Volume, AirPort, Script Menu

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spotlight, asm, time. volume, wireless, isync, script menu, workspaces (v-desktop pager), bluetooth, timemachine, clamXav sentry

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It seems like every poll here fits a nice bell curve except for the highest extremity. Are people just showing off or what?

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It seems like every poll here fits a nice bell curve except for the highest extremity. Are people just showing off or what?

Well, it seems pretty self-explanatory to me that an "or more" option wouldn't fit the bellcurve pattern, since it essentially encompasses a whole host of options above and beyond those explicitly represented...

At any rate, I did have exactly nineteen, but I've just cleared out a few, so I now have sixteen. From right-to-left:

Spotlight
Hotspot Shield (for when I simply must convince a website I'm in the US ~_~)
User Switching
Date/Time
Keyboard Layout (in addition to my usual British layout, I often have to type in Japanese, and the symbols in US Extended come in useful from time to time)
AirPort
Battery
Displays
Volume
iChat
Scripts
Quicksilver
TextExpander
Jumpcut
Gmail (email only, calendar disabled)
Last.fm

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right-to-left: spotlight, input menu, weekday/clock, airport, keychain access, gmail notifier.

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R-L:
Spotlight, FUS, Clock, Input Method, Battery, AirPort, Displays, Bluetooth, CPU temp, RAM usage, modem, disk activity, fan speed, Time Machine, iSync, Network activity, CPU usage, Mail Unread Menu, iiUsage, Anxiety, pthVolume, Adium, CoverSutra.

---
MacBook (Black) 2.0GHz, 2GB RAM, 200GB HDD, 10.4.10.

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From right to left:

Spotlight
Day/Clock
Battery Indicator
Volume - Hmm, though maybe I don't need it?
Bluetooth
Airport
Keychain Access
Modem (for my HSDPA 3G access)
URLWell

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Spotlight is there 'cause I don't have much choice_ I know there are hacks to kill it - but am lazy_

Anyway the magic number is 12_

Spotlight
Growl
Display
Volume
User
Time Machine
Bluetooth
Date/Time
Fuzzy Clock
Eject
MenuMeter's CPU
MenuMeter's Memory

Up thru Tiger the menuMeter stuff was done by Unsanity's CeePeeYou App - but as yet they still have not released even a Beta for Leopard and the current version breaks_

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Spotlight, Input keyboard(flag), Ink, Displays, Applescripts, Airport, Bluetooth, SoundSource, Spaces Prefs, Time machine, Dot Mac synching, Time/Date/Day of week, MainMenu, Eject, SoonR Agent, Gee, Skype, CopyPaste, X-Folder

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I should probably get rid of sound and displays. I never change my display resolution now that classic is dead, and I use the keyboard for sound. I never really run any Apps that push into my icons, so I will probably never deal with it.

From right to left:
Spotlight
Accounts (probably could kill that one too)
Time
Keyboard Input
Displays
iChat
Sound
SoundSource
AppleScript
Spaces
TimeMachine
MouseWorks
YouControl iTunes
The Unread

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I just got a new MacBook Pro, so now battery, bluetooth (which I will probably get rid of), and Airport are in my menu. Total of 17.

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Right to left

- Spotlight
- Fuzzy Clock, love this.
- Menu Calendar Clock for iCal, bought and paid for, excellent.
- Bluetooth
- keyboard
- battery (MBPro...)
- Airport
- Sync
- Script Menu
- Spaces icon, I use this for a quick visual only
- .Mac Menu (a free useful little access to all of .Mac from infinite nexus
- Time Machine
- Soundsource
- Intego Netbarrier
- Lil Snitch - prefer this, I should disable Netbarrier
- textexpander, fantastic
- Twitterific, the addictive...
- Default Folder, I like a small Dock and chose to have this here.


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Right to left...
Spotlight
Fast User Switching
Eject
Keyboard Selection
Clock
Battery Status
Volume
Display Manager
Airport
Menu Meter - CPU Load
Menu Meter - Network Traffic
Little Snitch
LabTick
smcFanControl
MagicMenu
GMail Notifier
HotKey Remote
PopChar

---
--
Adam C.

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Spotlight, Fast User Switching, Clock, Volume, International, AirPort, Bluetooth, Displays, iSync, iChat, Spaces, Time Machine, Alarm Clock 2, Growl, and Quicksilver

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spotlight menucalendarclock volume battery airport menumeters(memory) input(language) bluetooth ichat TimeMachine Butler

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Left to right:
QuicKeys (does anybody else still use it?)
PopChar (for quick access to odd characters like "☞" and "✔," not to mention "⌘.")
Keychain
Time Machine
Modem (for the USB720 broadband wireless device)
AirPort
Sync
AppleVPN
AppleScript
Battery + Charge (MBPro)
Volume
Day & Date
Clock
iClock (active applicaton icon
Spotlight
I don't really use the AppleScript icon, but I keep it there to remind me to someday learn more about it.



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what you are missing: wafflesoftware.net

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Well I had never heard of it... but since I'm going to view searches in my web browser anyway, why not used that little search thing in Safari?

---
G4/Digital Audio/1GHz, 1.5 GB, Mac OS X 10.5.2 • www.david-schwab.com • www.myspace/davidschwab • www.sgd-lutherie.com

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From right to left...

01) Spotlight
02) Fast User Switching
03) Clock
04) Input Menu
05) MenuMeters CPU Menu Meter (in %)
06) MenuMeters Disk Activity Meter (read/write arrows)
07) MenuMeters Memory Meter (Used/Free Totals)
08) Little Snitch Network Monitor
09) WeatherPop
10) Stuffit Deluxe 12 MagicMenu
11) Default Folder X menu
12) Calendarclock 1.0
13) PTHPastboard

And not shown in menu bar until used... LaunchBar

---
G4/Digital Audio/1GHz, 1.5 GB, Mac OS X 10.5.2 • www.david-schwab.com • www.myspace/davidschwab • www.sgd-lutherie.com

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I have 15:

Skitch, TextExpander, Visor, Caffeine, Clipper, Grabup, The script menu thing, upload/download speeds, Memory usage, CPU usage, AirPort, Volume, Battery, Time, Spotlight.

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I seem to have 26!

Here they go...
Quicksilver, TextExpander, Isolator, Growl, iChat, Universal Access, Sync, Time Machine, PPPoE, Airport, Bluetooth, Network, Sound, Eject, Displays, Lock, Spaces, Users, International, Disk activity (iStat Menus), Memory use (iStat Menus), Network activity (iStat Menus), CPU use (iStat Menus), Time and date (iStat Menus), Battery, Spotlight.

Just the basics!

---
----------
http://www.ojb.co.nz


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No one uses Meteorologist?

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From Right - Left:

Spotlight, Battery, Clock, Volume, Aiport, CPU, Modem Connect, Fan/Temp, Zoom, TextExpander, Memory, QuickSilver, Skype, Linkinus

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I have 19, but if you count all the items from iStat menus as one then it is 13.

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I voted 9, but realize I have 10.

Spotlight
Clock
Volume
Keyboard Pallette
Airport Status
Bluetooth status
Eject
Display Config'r
Workspace switcher
Time machine

mikey


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1. Quicksilver
2. Jumpcut
3. smcFanControl
4. Sync
5. iChat
6. Airport
7. Battery Status
8. Volume
9. Clock
10. Input Menu
11. Spotlight

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1. Quicksilver
2. Jumpcut
3. WiFi Status
4. Battery Indicator
5. Clock

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I guess I am an oddball here, but I only have Volume, the Clock and Spotlight. I dont think I ever use Spotlight, and volume only rarely. The crazy thing is I have another clock on my desk anyway, so given how much I use the other two I could have 0, and that would be beauty indeed to me.

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You can just command drag the other 2 off, but Spotlight needs to be disabled via some hidden preference, I forgot which one it is but it's documented somewhere on this site.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071102215912892&query=Disable%2BSpotlight

Sebastian

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Microsoft My Day, Wakoopa, Growl, Keychain, Apple Remote Desktop, AppleScripts, iSync, Time Machine, Sound, Date & Time, Multi-user, Sherlock

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Nokia Multimedia Transfer, Growl, Processor Prefs, iSync, TimeMachine, Spaces, Keychain Access, Modem Networking, Remote Desktop, AirPort, Bluetooth, Displays, Volume, Battery, International Keyboard, Fast User Switching, 24-hour digital clock with seconds, Spotlight

---
Place me in the company of those who seek Truth, but deliver me from those who believe to have found it.

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Spotlight
Time
Keyboard Menu
Time Machine
.Mac sync
Spaces
Script menu
Little Snitch
Synergy

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Aside from the usuals, I have Menu Calendar Clock, four from Menu Meters (cpu, memory, disk activity and network activity), Uptime in Menu Bar (uptime and load averages), Mac Fusion (for fuse-sshfs), and Aion (family timezone info).

Where relevant, I've customized the font to use American Typewriter 13 pt: a highly readable condensed font; because I have a PB G4 with a 1280x960 screen. If I could only change the menu font and the Apple suppled menu extras, I'd have many more menu extras up there!

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Isolator, Jumpcut, Mail Unread Menu, Caffeine, MainMenu, Script Menu, Network (iStat), Memory (iStat), CPU (iStat), Spaces, Time Machine, Airport, Volume, Input Menu, Date & Time, Spotlight

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