How To Access Apps Startup On Mac

| Posted on by

Select the Start button, then select Settings Apps Startup. Make sure any app you want to run at startup is turned On. If you don’t see the Startup option in Settings, right-click the Start button, select Task Manager, then select the Startup tab. (If you don’t see the Startup tab, select More details.) Select the app you want to change. See Also: How to Transfer your Data from an Old Mac to New. Delete startup item: If you don’t want an app to load at the startup, you’ve the power to delete it from the login items. You can simply select an application from the list and hit the ‘DELETE’ key and it’ll be out of the login items. Either select, All Users, which means any other device on your network, or Mac you own, can access and connect, or click the Add button(+), which gives you the ability to select who can have remote access and/or control. If you are using a VPN or VNC viewer and want to access your Mac remotely, you will need to setup a password first.

  1. Disable Apps At Startup
  2. How To Access Apps Startup On Mac Computer
  3. Mac How To Change Startup Programs
  4. How To Access Apps Startup On Macbook Pro

Loading programs automatically upon startup is a very convenient function, especially if the user knows exactly the list of applications that he needs regularly every day. When you turn on your PC that works on Mac OS, whether it’s a MacBook or a desktop computer, you can configure a set of programs that will start automatically. Some applications will offer you an automatic load option at the very moment you install them and run them for the very first time; others do not provide this option by default. In this article we are going to tell you how to add applications to Auto Program Startup on Mac OS, and how to remove them from there.

We recommend to always monitor the number of programs that are loaded automatically at startup. The more applications you have, the more computer resources will be spent. It is recommended to reduce the number of such applications to a necessary minimum on computers with poor performance.

How to add applications to the auto program startup on Mac OS using dock

The first way, which we are going to describe in this article, involves adding to the Auto Program Startup applications that are placed on the lower Dock-panel. Usually, these are the most used programs.

To add a new program to the Dock, you just need to transfer it from the list of all applications (Launchpad). After that, in the Dock, right click on the program that you would like to download automatically and select “Options” from the drop-down menu, and then set “Open at Login” option.

Important: After the “Open at login” option is checked, a checkmark will appear on it, which means that this application will be started automatically. If you need to remove the program from startup just right-click on it in Dock and uncheck the “Open at Login” option from the options list.

How to add or remove application from auto program startup on Mac OS using settings

Method that we described above is not the only one available in Mac OS. You can use the operating system settings to add or remove applications from startup. To do this:

  1. Go to “System Preferences” by clicking an apple sign in the upper left corner of the screen and selecting the corresponding item in the drop-down menu;
  2. In the preferences window find the “Users and groups” section (you can do it by yourself or use search). Go to it;
  3. At the top of the menu, select the “Login items” tab to get to the list of programs for Auto Startup;
  4. You will see a list of applications that start automatically with the operating system;
  5. To add new program to Auto Startup you need to click on the “Plus” at the bottom of the window, and open the standard Finder. Here you can choose which exactly applications should start automatically when you turn on your computer. You can add not only the application, but also a separate file or something else. Select the desired application and click “Add”. After that, the program will be added to Startup list.

If you would like to remove one of the applications from the current startup list select it at the list of login items and click on “Minus”. After that, the selected application will stop starting automatically every time you turn on the computer on Mac OS.

Note that there is also a “Hide” column in the list of Login Items, where you can set the checkbox. If you enable the checkbox for one program in this column, it will not open on the whole screen when you start automatically, but will remain running at the background. For example, this can be useful for programs like Skype, Telegram and other messengers.

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.

Startup

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.

  1. Download CleanMyMac for free.
  2. Launch the app.
  3. Open Optimization tab.
  4. Click on Login items.
  5. From the list of apps, disable the ones you don’t need on startup.
  6. Done!
Mac startup items

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.

  1. Open System Preferences.
  2. Go to Users & Groups.
  3. Choose your nickname on the left.
  4. Choose Login items tab.
  5. Check startup programs you want to remove.
  6. Press the “–” sign below.
  7. You’re done.
  8. If you need to add an item back, press “+” and choose the app you’d like add.
  9. 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.

  1. Launch CleanMyMac.
  2. Choose Uninstaller tab.
  3. Scroll through the list of apps.
  4. If you spot any app that you’ve deleted, check them.
  5. Delete the app leftovers you’ve chosen.

You can also find and remove broken login items with the help of System Junk module:

  1. Choose System Junk tab.
  2. Click Scan.
  3. Review details and click Clean.

Finally, you need to clean your macOS startup items through launch services:

  1. Open Maintenance tab.
  2. Choose Rebuild Launch Services.
  3. Hit Run.
  4. Done.

Disable Apps At Startup

Once you do it, all broken app data on your Mac will be fixed.

How To Access Apps Startup On Mac Computer

Remove daemons and agents from startup process

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.

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:

Mac How To Change Startup Programs

  1. /System/Library/LaunchDaemons - note that besides preference files this folder contains other important system items that are recommended to keep untouched.
  2. /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.

How To Access Apps Startup On Macbook Pro

These might also interest you: