TMO Quick Tip - Remove Unwanted Menu Bar Icons

by , 7:30 AM EST, February 29th, 2008

Your Mac's menu bar holds all kinds of useful tidbits, but that doesn't mean everything you see there is a welcome addition. Sometimes applications add their own menu bar items that take up space you would rather use for something else. Luckily, removing those extra icons is easy to do.


Find the item you don't want...

Just Command-click the item you want to remove and drag it out of the menu bar. When you release the item it will disappear in a puff of smoke.


...and Command-drag it out of your menu bar.

If you want to move were an item sits instead, you can Command-click it left or right. This is handy if you want your menu bar items organized in a specific order.

iSync's menu bar item automatically appears in my menu bar whenever there is a problem with synchronizing my iPhone. That's fine because it alerts me to the problem; unfortunately the icon doesn't go away once the issue is resolved. Since my menu bar is already loaded to the gills with other things I find more useful, I like to get rid of the iSync item right away.