Missing Some OS 9 Features In OS X? Try X-Assist
June 4th, 2001

X-Assist 0.5 (Freeware)
Peter Li and Friends

Sure, there are some new, interesting features in Mac OS X, but some may long for some of the navigation features available under OS 9. OS X has a Dock, and an Apple menu, but they don't offer the same functionality the good ol' Application and Apple Menu of OS 9. All is not lost however, because you can add some of this functionality back into OS X with X-Assist...

Bring the Application Menu Back to OS X

The most notable feature of X-Assist is the reintroduction of an Application menu in the upper right-hand corner of your screen. Just like under OS 9, you can see a list of each running application, with a small icon next to each application. A check mark appears next to the active application, and you can switch to another application by selecting it from the menu. You can also select to hide the current app, hide other apps, or show all apps.

The X-Assist application menu also offer a Shortcuts menu, which offers several additional useful features. You can select Control Panels, aka the System Preferences under OS X. There is also a Recent Applications menu, which can contain more than the maximum of 5 items under the OS X Recent Items menu. Finally, the Shortcuts menu offers access to Preferences which affect Menu Settings, OS9 Window Behavior, and other Miscellaneous behavior.

Revive some familiar OS 9 functionality to OS X, and get help from X-Assist.

Have any other Mac Gadgets that bring some useful OS 9 functionality to OS X? Let John know via e-mail, so he can give it a spin.