The idea of an application exposing hidden Mac OS X features is nothing new. There have been countless such utilities since OS X’s inception. However, a new preference pane called Secrets takes this concept to the next level. While most secret feature enablers stick only to the applications included with Mac OS X, Secrets goes beyond that, by allowing users to access hidden features in third-party applications such as NetNewsWire and Adium. Additionally, users can submit their own hidden feature hints. Cool.

Since most applications require a relaunch before the hidden features take effect, a “relaunch” button would be nice, as would the ability to revert to defaults in case something goes wrong.

Secrets is still in beta, so keep in mind that you could run into some bugs. Also, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you could cause issues with your OS. But if you’re game, visit the Secrets site.

Do you follow Deep Thought’s Mac news on a regular basis? Subscribe to our Mac news feed.