Startup apps are convenient, but too many can eat up precious memory and slow down your computer. The good news is, you can fight back. There are some obvious ways to manage startup apps on Mac.
Many apps or softwares upon installing automatically start-up each time when you restart & login or reboot into your Mac OS X. Some of these apps simply increase the loading time or startup time of your Mac system. Here’s a simple tutorial which will help you to change or remove apps which start up automatically in Mac OS X, read on below for method to change or remove items while starting Mac OS X.
Tutorial – How to Change or Remove Start up Apps & Programs in Mac OS X –
- Inorder to remove or prevent apps or programs from automatically starting up, we need to remove them from Settings or System Preferences, so first of all launch the “System Preferences” from Spotlight or from the bottom dock bar of your Mac system as shown below –
System Preferences Mac OS X Dock bar
Now, the System Preferences window will open up as shown below , Please click on the “Users & Groups” icon as highlighted –
- Once you enter Users & Groups section, it will now show a list of all users registered on your Macbook / iMac mini system as shown below –
Users registered in Mac OS X
Here, select the user for which you want to change the startup items or apps.
- In the next stem, besides the highlighted “password” option, select the “Login items” option –
Login Items Option Mac OS X
It will now, show a list of all currently present Startup apps or programs which automatically start up when you log on to your Mac.
- To Remove or Change any app from automatically starting up from your next login, select the name of the app by clicking in the “checkmark” box , and then Click on the Minus sign button below the app list window as shown –
- That’s it ! the app will now disappear from the list and won’t start up automatically from your next log-in to your Mac OS X.
The method works fine on all newer Mac OS X versions Mavericks, Yosemite , Mountain Lion, Snow leopard, El Capitan and even Mac OS X Sierra too. Incase if it doesn’t work for you feel free to comment in the article.
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.
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.
- 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!
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.
Turn Off Mac Startup Programs
Once you do it, all broken app data on your Mac will be fixed.
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.
Stop Startup Apps On Mac
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.
Startup Apps On Mac
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.