October 17, 2006 9:03 AM PDT

Mac OS X 10.4.8 Special Report: Menu items: Disappearance, other issues

by CNET staff

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Some users have reported that various menubar items (Spotlight, date and time, AirPort, etc.) are missing after the update to Mac OS X 10.4.6.

In some cases, the solution for this issue is to re-apply the current combination updater (PowerPC or Intel).

In yet other cases, the resolution for this problem is as simple as re-enabling the menubar items through their appropriate preference pane or companion application. For instance, if your AirPort menubar item is missing after the update, try launching the "Internet Connect" application (located at the root level of the /Applications folder), click the Airport pane, and choose "Show Airport status in menu bar."

In a small amount cases, this problem is caused by prior manual removal of the Spotlight menu (by deleting the file Search.bundle in the folder /System/Library/CoreServices/). For many users, removing Search.bundle (again) and rebooting fixes the absent menu item problem. Alternatively, replacing a Search.bundle file from a previous Mac OS X installation will also resolve this issue, and bring Spotlight back to the menu bar.

Finally, in other cases, resolution settings may be to blame. Try setting a different screen resolution temporarily using the Displays pane of System Preferences.

Reader reports

MacFixIt reader Michel Morvan writes:

"I own a PowerBook 1.25 GHz. I've just downloaded the last Tiger update and my problem is that the airport sign, date time, language of keyboard don't display anymore in the Finder tool bar."

Michael Levenston adds:

"Not sure if I've done something wrong but since updating to 10.4.8, I no longer have my Clock nor Spotlight in the right hand corner of the screen. In fact I don't know where to find Spotlight in order to use it."

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