how to remove your name from Lion’s menubar

If you do not want your account name showing in the menubar (perhaps you’re doing screenshots or some screencasting), there’s a simple way to remove it.

1. Go to  > System Preferences… > Users & Groups

2. Click the padlock at the bottom and enter your Admin password.

3. Click ‘Login Options’, then select ‘Icon’ from the dropdown menu associated with the Show fast user switching menu as option.

You can also just deselect the option entirely if you don’t use fast switching at all.

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frozen menubar, disappearing icons

An out-of-control mds process can show itself with a number of symptoms across the menubar:

— disappearing or frozen Spotlight icon in the right-hand corner
— the menubar clock stopping
— other menubar icons like TM frozen or failing to appear

Try this quick-fix solution with the Activity Monitor:

1. Open Activity Monitor.app (Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor.app)

2. Select ‘All Processes’ from the drop down menu next to the search bar (called ‘Filter:’) and type in ‘mds’.

3. Select the process name ‘mds‘ with user ‘root‘. Click the ‘Quit Process’ button at the top. You will be asked to supply your password.