The best menu tabs and dashboard widgets for Mac make it easy to check your updates on various platforms that you use frequently. Instead of turning to your browser every time you want to check your email, Facebook, etc., all you have to do is click the button on your menu bar.  Now you can view latest updates right on your desktop with no need for a browser.

Here are some of the best menu tabs for mac that I recommend you install:

Tab for Google+ – the ultimate Mac client for all your Google+ needs

MenuTab for Facebook – the best app for instantly accessing your Facebook account without having to open your web browser

MailTab for Gmail – instantly access your Gmail without opening your browser.  Receive visual and audio mail notifications, quick access to your inbox and ability to respond to emails at lightning speed.

Wiki Tab – Wikipedia is now right under your fingers.  You don’t have to launch any browser or wait for them to load!

NotesTab – Write down your notes unto NotesTab and have them available at the click of a button in your menu bar.  NotesTab is great for to-do lists or saving important pieces of information such as logins.

PinTab for Pinterest – Check out the latest pins with just a click on our menu bar, and without having to login to the site every time.

Here are some of the best dashboard widgets for Mac that I recommend you download:

Screenshot Plus – Can take full screen captures, grab portions of the screen, and even capture windows, desktop icons, and other widgets. Captures may be saved to the clipboard or to the hard drive, or they may be exported to any application directly from the widget.

Quote of the Day – Presents the quote of the day with the person who said it + his photo.

Delivery Status – Don’t waste your time checking the site constantly, just open this all-in-one delivery tracker and enter your order number or tracking number. The status will update automatically for you, and even count down the days!

iTiny URL – Uses the tinyURL api to create a tiny url from a big url. It’s ideal when you have limit space to write or simply don’t want to put a big url.

Zodiac – Your daily horoscope 

iStat Nano – View detailed stats about CPU usage, memory usage, hard drive space, bandwidth usage, temperatures, fan speeds, battery usage, uptime and the top 5 processes. iStat nano also shows your public IP address, which be can copied to your clipboard using one of the many keyboard shortcuts.

RSS Reader – This widget allows you to display news feeds in your Dashboard. It supports both RSS and Atom feeds. You can have multiple readers open which display different feeds. The widget can automatically reload your feeds.

xCuts – A utility for looking up Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts, something that recent switchers from Linux or Windows probably need to do quite a bit!

Also make sure to have the basic dashboard widgets for Mac – Calculator, Dictionary, Weather, Calendar, and Clock