The application that I would like to present to you today has recently received a significant update that enriched it with a number of new functions. It is not intended only for geeks who love various system information, but also for ordinary users who like useful information at hand. And that's exactly what the iStat Menus 3 application from the workshop of Bjango is.
The essence of the application is the display of various information in the "Menu bar" where they are available during any work. The type of information that can be displayed can be divided into two categories. The first contains system information and the second user information.
The big change in version 3 is the installation method. The application is no longer installed in "preferences" but like a standard MAC OS X application it is only dragged into Applications. Another change for the better is a complete UI change, which is now probably the most similar to the iPad application.
Another significant change is that iStat Menus 2 was free and you have to pay $10 for the new version. A 14-day trial version is also available.
System information.
Information about CPU usage is displayed in a mini-graph, it can be displayed in percentage or using a graphic icon. After clicking on the CPU, a window will appear with more detailed information about the load of each core separately, the top 5 processes responsible for its load, the total number of running processes and other additional information. It is also possible to set the displayed data update interval from 0.5s to 10s.
Another item is the use of RAM memory. Its display options are similar to those of the CPU and can be easily set via the program menu. RAM is divided into Wired, Active, Inactive, Free with the option to display in percentage. You can also see the top 5 memory guzzlers.
The item "Disk Usage" will show you all connected disks (including external ones) and their current usage. “Disk Activity” allows you to monitor the reading and writing speed of the disk on which you have MAC OS installed, complete with a decent graph in real time. The "Network" item is very helpful, where you can get an overview of the current speed downloading and sending data, information about the internal and external IP address, which is especially useful if you often change the places from which you access the Internet as an immediate help in diagnosing the problem. "Peak Bandwidth" allows you to estimate the approximate speed of your Internet connection. You also have the option to easily get out of the system network settings.
"Sensors" provides an insight into the world of different temperatures of individual computersonentov of your MAC. From the processor to the hard drive to the battery and you can even find out how many volts each battery cell has.
User information.
In the "Date & Time" item, you have the option of course, in addition to the date and time, to display the world time for the cities you define, with the fact that for each city, the time of sunrise and sunset will be shown to you. The monthly overview of the calendar is very clear with direct access to iCal. A very interesting feature is the display of the next eight phases of the moon.
The last one is the "tab"Battery” where we see all the necessary information about power supply and charging. As long as you use Magic Mouse or Apple Wireless Keyboard you can still see the available capacity of the batteries in them. There is not even information about the number of charging cycles of the battery to throw away MacBookat. You can also see the current capacity of your battery and the production capacity for comparison. This information can help you guess its approximate age.
The icons and descriptions in the Menu bar can be adjusted in appearance and size to suit your eye. Whether you are a technical enthusiast or a regular user, it is good to have information at hand, especially in the case when you start to see the "beach ball" too often and you need to quickly find out the cause of this condition. The iStat Menus 3 application complements the MAC OS X system with interesting features that are sometimes worth more than the $10 it will cost you to purchase.
You can download the 14-day trial version of iStat Menus 3 here: iStat Menus 3
Jan Caran
https://youtube.com/watch?v=n5P0u0CRmhg
