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Menu bar
What Cloak Watch's menu bar icon and menu show: the status, things to fix now, recent events, AI today, Scan Now, Pause and the network extension switch.
Cloak Watch lives in the menu bar. Its icon shows the state of your Mac at a glance, and its menu lists anything to fix, recent events and the commands you need most. Closing the main window keeps Watch running here.
The icon
Section titled “The icon”| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Clear | Nothing needs you. |
| Review | Something is worth a look. |
| Act now, with a number | That many things need fixing now. Turn the number off with Show how many things to fix in the menu bar in Settings › Alerts. |
The menu
Section titled “The menu”Click the icon to open the menu.
| Part | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Status | This Mac is clear, Nothing harmful found, 1 thing to fix now / N things to fix now, or Not scanned yet, with a line such as Protected · feed checked 4 min ago, Scanning · 40% or Paused · 42 min left · feed still updating |
| Update | When a new version is out, a row such as Cloak Watch 1.0.1 is available with Download; for a security fix, Security fix: Cloak Watch 1.0.1; when your version is too old for the feed, Update Cloak Watch to stay safe |
| Things to fix now | Each incident that needs fixing now, with when Watch found it. Click one to open it. Fix It… or Fix All… opens the Fix it sheet. With only things worth a look, one row such as 3 things worth a look opens them in the Inbox. |
| Recent | The last five events: feed updates, attacks that didn’t affect you, new installs, settings changes |
| AI today | Today’s AI traffic, for example Claude Code → Anthropic 4.1 MB, 15 tool calls, 3 MCP servers. Click it to open AI Activity. |
| Scan Now | Scans the Mac now (⌘ R). |
| Pause for 1 Hour, Pause Until Tomorrow | Pauses Watch for an hour, or until 9:00 tomorrow. See Pause. |
| Resume Watching | Shown while paused, with the time left. Ends the pause. |
| Network Extension | A switch that turns the network extension on or off, with its state. Off sends every connection direct. Only shown when your copy of Watch includes the extension. |
| Open Cloak Watch | Opens the main window. |
| Settings… | Opens Settings (⌘ ,). |
| Quit Cloak Watch | Quits (⌘ Q). Watch stops checking until you open it again. |
Pause Watch when you’re about to install a lot or present your screen and don’t want to be interrupted.
- While paused, Watch doesn’t scan and doesn’t post notifications. File changes are held back, and the feed keeps updating quietly.
- When the pause ends, Watch checks the changes it held back, a scan that was waiting runs, and notifications held back during the pause are posted if they still apply: anything that still needs fixing, and the reminder for things worth a look.
- A pause lasts across a relaunch or a restart.
- Guard rules, AI Activity and the network extension aren’t affected by a pause.
Pause from the menu bar (Pause for 1 Hour or Pause Until Tomorrow), the Pause button in the main window’s toolbar, or Watch › Pause for an Hour (⇧ ⌘ P). The same places offer Resume while paused.
Commands and shortcuts
Section titled “Commands and shortcuts”While the main window is open, Cloak Watch also has the usual app menus at the top of the screen. Its Watch menu has the same commands:
| Command | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Scan Now | ⌘ R |
| Pause for an Hour / Resume Watching | ⇧ ⌘ P |
| I Think I’ve Been Hit… | Opens the incident plan |
| Home, Inbox, Feed, Inventory, AI Activity, Install Guard, Settings | ⌘ 1 to ⌘ 7 |
| GitHub, Domains | ⌘ 8, ⌘ 9 |
| Show Welcome… | |
| Cloak Watch › Check for Updates… | |
| Cloak Watch › Settings… | ⌘ , |
| Help › Cloak Watch Help | Opens these docs |
| Help › What Leaves Your Mac | Opens Settings › Privacy |
The main window’s toolbar has Scan Now and Pause, and a status capsule in the middle, for example Cloak Watch | 2 things to fix now.