What are startup items?
Startup items, or login items, are services and applications that launch every time you start your Mac. These are applications that sneak into startup items without notice, never asking if you need or want them there. This way you may end up with a dozen apps launching as soon as you turn on your Mac, weighing heavily on its processor and memory capacities and slowing it down. Such items can increase your Mac’s startup time and decrease its performance.
Before starting your Adobe application, disable other applications, including startup items (items that start automatically with Windows), and services using Selective Startup. Important: When you deselect Load System Services in Selective or Diagnostic Startup, you permanently delete all restore points for the System Restore utility. Oct 24, 2017 To begin with, you should have relatively few items in this list but as time goes on and you install more stuff onto your Mac, the list will increase. To stop apps opening on startup on Mac: Highlight an app in the Login Items list. Select the minus ‘-‘ underneath the center pane. Repeat for all non-essential apps. Listen, here will be a list of apps and files and folders that open at start up time. Most of them will be checked at the “Open at login” checkbox.Therefore, if you need to stop them from opening when you start up your Mac, simply uncheck them at the checkbox.
Plus, sometimes when you remove an application or a service, it leaves a login item with a broken link. These broken login items are completely useless, cause unwanted messages, and waste your Mac's resources (because they look for non-existent applications). Whether you're running macOS Catalina or El Capitan, or earlier — it's all the same, so just read on.
So, let's go over how to take control of login items, and how to get rid of unwanted, broken or hidden startup items.
How to disable startup programs?
Do you want to stop programs from running at startup? There’s an easy way to remove programs from startup and get your Mac to load faster on launch. The fastest way to turn off startup items on Mac is an app like CleanMyMac X. Reboot mac and install new system software.
- Now you’ll see a list of items that will open automatically when you log in. You can select an item in the list and click the Minus button to remove it from starting up, and you can check the Hide box to make the application not come to the foreground when it starts — it’ll basically start up, but minimize itself into the dock when it starts.
- Using Mac OS X, High Sierra, 10.13.6 on MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011). I have apps that I use, but do not want to start at boot & login. These apps do not have 'Open at Login' Dock option set. I found a terminal dialog (old – dated 2013) referring to a no-longer extant command 'launchctl' that I tried. Example, to not launch Amazon Music.
- Download CleanMyMac for free.
- Launch the app.
- Open Optimization tab.
- Click on Login items.
- From the list of apps, disable the ones you don’t need on startup.
- Done!
![Deactivate startup apps mac osx download Deactivate startup apps mac osx download](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126460745/161180991.png)
How to change startup programs manually?
Disabling Mac startup programs is possible manually. Therefore, if you have some time and would like to do it yourself, follow the steps below.
Your login items are listed in settings. One of the easiest ways to control startup items is inside System Preferences > Users & Groups.
- Open System Preferences.
- Go to Users & Groups.
- Choose your nickname on the left.
- Choose Login items tab.
- Check startup programs you want to remove.
- Press the “–” sign below.
- You’re done.
- If you need to add an item back, press “+” and choose the app you’d like add.
- Then restart your Mac to see the changes.
How to fix broken startup items?
Broken Mac startup files are left there because some part of apps are left on your Mac long after you’ve moved the app to the Trash. To get rid of these parts and to fix your startup, you’re going to need CleanMyMac again. First, you need to check if they’re among startup items and disable them if so. You can do it following the instructions above. Then you need to remove app leftovers. CleanMyMac works fine on macOS High Sierra and earlier OS.
- Launch CleanMyMac.
- Choose Uninstaller tab.
- Scroll through the list of apps.
- If you spot any app that you’ve deleted, check them.
- Delete the app leftovers you’ve chosen.
You can also find and remove broken login items with the help of System Junk module:
- Choose System Junk tab.
- Click Scan.
- Review details and click Clean.
Finally, you need to clean your macOS startup items through launch services:
- Open Maintenance tab.
- Choose Rebuild Launch Services.
- Hit Run.
- Done.
Once you do it, all broken app data on your Mac will be fixed.
Remove daemons and agents from startup process
![Mac Mac](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126460745/541196418.png)
Mac Os X Disable Startup Apps
If speaking of files, first go to the system folder /Library/StartUpItems. Here you’ll find all the startup files that are being launched with the system. You can delete the login item you think is necessary if you’re totally sure what you are doing.
Also, the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder contains a bunch of preference files that define how the application that is being launched along with the system should work. You might want to delete some of these files as well if you know you don’t need them and removing them is safe.
Dec 28, 2016 Buy Cisdem AppCrypt for Mac to password protect apps. How to use Mac App Blocker alternative to lock apps on Mac? Step one: after you launch Cisdem AppCrypt, set a password which is easy to remember. The password will be used to unlock the blocked apps and change program settings. So you must remember the password since the password is not retrievable. To open the main app window, click on the menu bar icon and enter the app password you’ve set previously. To add an app to the block list, click on the Add App button, and navigate to the particular “.app” file on your Mac. To remove a specific app, select it from the list of blocked apps and click on the Remove App button. On your Mac, choose Apple menu Restart, or press the Power button on your computer and then click Restart. Click your user account, click the question mark in the password field, then click the arrow next to “reset it using your Apple ID.” Enter an Apple ID and password, then click Next. Follow the instructions to reset your login password. Jul 10, 2016 Says I can't uninstall but also says it's not installed on my computer. Unable to close apps needing a password even using the keyboard command. This needs to be removed from the Mac Store for how much it will break your computer. Developer Response, Dear user, To remove the app you must first close it - this is available for all apps out there. Mac app blocker forgot password.
The /Library/LaunchAgents contains preference files responsible for the apps that launch during the login process (not the startup).
The above-mentioned folders contain app-related files. However, you can also check system folders to review whether you need some of the system applications to be running on startup:
- /System/Library/LaunchDaemons - note that besides preference files this folder contains other important system items that are recommended to keep untouched.
- /System/Library/LaunchAgents - most probably, you won’t also find anything worth removing in this folder, however, keeping this location in mind might help you find files related to a problematic app that causes troubles on Mac startup. If you have a problematic application that messes about on login, you can try to trace it back from this folder.
But, if you’re looking for simple ways to remove login items, we suggest using a professional Mac utility. Download CleanMyMac X for free and make unwanted and broken login items a thing of the past.