A while ago in the “7 tools to keep your Mac healthy” roundup, I had concluded in using MainMenu as my tool of choice. The version 1.0 under Santa Softare was free for all, although it did show hints of later versions going paid. Santa Software was acquired by Dare to be Creative (makers of iArchiver) and this is the first release under the new umbrella.
Before I go any further, what exactly is MainMenu? It encompasses system diagnostic and maintenance tools under a simple menubar dropdown. You can run the built in maintenance scripts, clear caches, reindex the spotlight database, restart the dock, and a whole lot more. All this is contained in a single menubar drop down that’s well organised, always available, and takes up little space in your menubar.
However, some would argue that it’s pointless having one of these tools taking up even those little pixels in the menubar, as one would launch it when the time is right. With 2.0, MainMenu has some additional functions that make it somewhat useful for doing things other than just maintaining. You can now quickly plain force quit, or force restart applications. There’s also a “Restart Airport” function which will close and reestablish the airport connection clearing any internet issues in the bargain. There’s some more random upgrades thrown in like animated menubar icon, growl notification support, ejecting disks, and an overall better arrangement of tasks. One feature I’d like to see is a “Force Shutdown” or “Force Restart” of my Mac. There are times when I just need my Mac to go off and have to tend to InDesign, Mail, etc., having a ball of a time throwing up messages that prevent that from happening.
If you’re a user of the first version, I see no reason to upgrade to this paid version ($20). The new features don’t justify the price upgrade, so I’d suggest you ride that gravy boat for some time to come. If you’re a new user however, there’s no way but to use version 2 which gives you 15 days to test the waters. Not considering the first version was free, I’d say it’s a good price for an well designed feature rich application.
