Share Menu is a system that connects a Macintosh OS X machine to a Windows or Samba network.

Unlike the existing Apple Samba system, Share Menu shows each share using full length names, and is not limited to fourteen characters. This removes the need to have special Macintosh share names that can be found using the Finder connect to server menu option.
When you are not connected to the network or the network is offline, the menu has the ability to show that the connection has failed, and will update if the network comes back online, saving the need to keep checking.
With the favourite shares section, the menu can be set to show only those shares which are of concern to you, or if preferred, all of the shares can be displayed in the menu by simply selecting Show shares in the Share Menu system preferences.
When the shares are not shown in the menu, selecting the connection menu allows you to display a list of available shares, mount your home drive and test/update the connection.
In addition there is a menu section which shows the recent shares that have been mounted, allowing quick access to frequently used shares without the need to create favourites.
The update feature of the menu has the added advantage that when new shares become available, the menu can reflect the changes.

Another advantage of using Share Menu is that Windows shares which have spaces in the name can still be mounted (other systems seem to fail in this area). The mounted shares can be ejected just like any other mounted item (such as a dmg file), which is not possible when using mounting scripts.
The Share Menu mounting system even has the ability to use CIFS (if it is available), so that you can benefit from using products like DAVE.

If you require the ability to log into a Windows network, why not try MSAD Login, which also comes with a share menu but can mount home drives and change passwords with ease.