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Timely iStat

Among the 10 Mac freeware apps recommended at Res Ispa Blog for switchers is iStat. A lot of people like this one for the way it displays stats about your Mac in the menu bar — CPU, memory, drives, network, temps, fans and power, and Bluetooth. That’s all cool, but not quite cool enough that I actually want to install it. Then I remembered reading somewhere that it also allows you to customize the time and date. I’ve been using a long-abandoned program called wClock for this purpose, so I thought I’d see if iStat would be a better way to go.

The first thing I noticed about iStat is that it installs as a preference pane. This somehow seems like a neater way of doing things than making wClock a startup item. And once you fire it up, there are actually three ways of customizing time and date. First, there is a popup list to choose from. Second, there is a drag-and-drop method that allows you to mix and match several options. And third, you can do your own coding. I chose mix and match and I am now able to look at Monday, June 23, 2008 10:26 AM — just the way I like it.

My only beef is that iStat insists on putting a calendar icon — similar to the one for iCal — beside it. You can change the colour, but you can’t make it go away. On the plus side, clicking on it pops up a handy calendar, clocks giving times from cities of your choice, and a shortcut to iCal. Curiously, there is a shortcut to Apple’s built-in Date and Time preference, but not one for iStat.

Despite these minor drawbacks, iStat looks like a winner, and wClock’s time may have finally passed. Who knows — I might even put up a few other stats while I’m at it.

Update: I found a way to get rid of the icon. When editing the format, change the Mode in the top right corner to Text. And indeed you can take a shortcut to the iStat preferences by clicking on one of the clocks. So that takes care of even my smallest of quibbles. iStat gets an unequivocal thumbs up.

Posted Monday, June 23, 2008 in

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Comments are open

  1. I believe you can say goodbye to the icon if you like. In the menu for the calendar item of iStats, click the edit button for the menubar clock, there is a drop bar in the upper right corner. Just choose text only and the icon will be gone. You’ve probably figured this out but anyway hope it helps. iStats is great and very customizable. I’m sure you’ll find some of its other features quite handy.

    frienetic

  2. Thanks for the tip. The article has been updated.

    Mark





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