Apps opening automatically during startup on your Mac can slow down your computer. In this article, we are showing you the steps to stop apps from Opening automatically during Startup on your Mac.
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Why Stop Apps From Opening Automatically On Mac
Most programs would like to make themselves available to you as soon as you start your Mac. Some programs add themselves to the list of startup programs on Mac or the user ends up adding them to the startup list by innocently clicking on the 'Open at Startup' check box.
Since then my MAC is restarting gives me the login screen, I type the password, the desktop starts to show, and before it finishes loading, boom, another restart. I noticed that when logging in, the preview app is opened again (it was open when I ran the restart command), so one idea I have, is that somehow the OS is relaunching the restart app. Once your Mac's software is up to date, you'll also want to check and make sure all of the preinstalled apps are updated in the App Store. Find the App Store icon in the app dock along the bottom.
Turn off your Mac as normal. Power up your Mac, but immediately press and hold the Command + R keys. Your Mac will now enter Recovery Mode. Once in Recovery Mode, click the Wi-Fi symbol in the upper-right corner, and make sure you're connected to a fast, reliable network. How to stop applications from opening when you start up your Mac. There are different types of startup programs on macOS, some of which you can manually disable in System Preferences, while others remain hidden and can only be removed via the Terminal app. Yep, it sounds silly, but the fact is that rebooting your MacBook can often solve a number of problems. If you're encountering these types of strange behavior with your laptop, a reboot might be all you need to heal: Intermittent problems communicating over a network A garbled screen, strange colors, or screwed-up fonts The swirling.
However, each application that opens at startup with your Mac needs resources and this ends makes the startup process longer on your Mac, resulting in a noticeably slower computer.
Hence, if you are wondering as to why your Mac is so slow to startup, the simple reason is because you have a long list of startup programs, some of which you may not even see because the Hide option is checked in the Settings for the program.
Check Which Apps Are Opening During Startup On Mac
Follow the steps below to take a look at the applications that are opening at startup on your Mac.
1. Click on the Apple Menu icon in the top menu bar on your Mac and then click on System Preferences in the drop-down menu.
2. On the System Preferences screen, click on Users & Groups.
3. On the Users & Group screen, click on Login Items tab to see the list of programs that are opening at startup on your Mac.
In case the programs that are opening at startup are not your favourite or the most commonly used programs, you will need to stop them from opening at startup and slowing down your computer.
Stop Apps From Opening Automatically On Mac Using Dock
Follow the steps below to stop Apps from opening at Startup on your Mac, in case the app that is opening up automatically is located on the Dock of your Mac.
1. Right-click on the App's icon that you wish to stop from opening at startup.
2. After right clicking on the app's icon, a menu will pop-up. From the menu, hover your mouse over Options and then click on Open at Login to uncheck this option. (See image below)
After unchecking the option, the next time your Mac starts up, the application will no longer open.
Stop Apps from Opening Automatically on Mac Using Settings
In case the App which is opening automatically during startup is not located on the Dock of your Mac, you will need to go into the Settings Menu of your Mac to disable such apps.
1. Click on the Apple Menu icon in the top menu bar on your Mac and then click on System Preferences in the drop-down menu.
2. On the System Preferences screen, click on Users & Groups option
3. On the Users & Groups screen, click on the current User Account that you are logged into (in case it is not already selected) and then click on the Login Items Tab (See image below)
4. Next, Select the App that you want to stop from opening at startup by clicking on it. Once you have selected the app click on the – button, to stop the app from opening at startup (See image above)
From now on the App will not startup automatically whenever you open your Mac.
Hide Apps Opening Automatically on Mac
Follow the steps below, in case you have no problem with an application opening up automatically with your Mac but want to hide the application from showing up during startup.
1. Click on the Apple Menu icon in the top menu bar on your Mac and then click on System Preferences in the drop-down menu.
2. On the next screen, click on Users & Groups option
3. On the Users & Groups screen, make sure that your current Account is selected and then click on the Login Items tab (See image below)
4. Now, locate the application that you want to hide at startup and simply check the little box next to the application (See image above)
Now the application that you just hid will continue to open at startup but will be hidden from your sight, allowing you to see your desktop first.
All-mighty Mac system monitor
When your Mac slows down or starts behaving erratically, chances are it's because an application that's running, perhaps in the background, is misbehaving. And if it's not an application that's causing the problem, it will almost certainly be a process associated with macOS or an ancillary service.
Solving this problem is usually as simple as killing the process, but in order to do that you need to identify which one.Here's a comprehensive guide on how to view and kill processes on your Mac.
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Try the best tools that help you find and kill processes hampering your Mac's performance.
How to show which processes consume a lot of memory
The easiest way to view all active processes running on your Mac is to launch Activity Monitor from your Applications folder. In the default CPU tab, you can see how much processing power every process takes, ranked by the most consuming. And if you switch to the Memory tab, you will see the same list ranked by the amount of used up RAM.
For more immediate and elaborate information on how your computer resources are consumed, use iStat Menus, which handily lives in your menu bar and, in its MEM table, shows you applications and processes that are consuming more than their fair share of RAM in real time.
How to kill process using Activity Monitor
- Launch Activity Monitor.
The easiest way to launch Activity Monitor is to press Command and spacebar to call up Spotlight, then start typing Activity Monitor. When it appears in Spotlight, hit Return to launch it. Alternatively, go to Utilities in the Applications folder and double-click on its icon. Or open Activity Monitor in one click through iStat Menus app. - View and filter tasks.
You'll notice there are five tabs across the top of the Activity Monitor window: CPU, Energy, Memory, Disk, and Network. Clicking on any of those tabs organizes processes according to the percentage of the resource they are using. So, clicking on CPU lists tasks in the order of how much CPU capacity they're using. By default, processes are ordered starting with the one that's consuming the most of the resource at the top, so you can quickly see where problems are occurring or likely to occur. To flip the order, so that processes consuming the least of the resource are at the top, click the arrow next to Memory or CPU above the list of processes. - Kill problematic processes.
When you identify a process that's causing a problem, either because it's hogging lots of CPU cycles or memory, or because it's highlighted in the Activity Monitor as having crashed, you need to kill it. To do that, click on the process first and then on the X in the Activity Monitor toolbar. The process will quit and free up the resources it was taking up. If it's a critical process, it will restart. If it's an application, it will remain shut down.
Activity Monitor alternatives
Get an advanced system monitor for macOS – an improved alternative to the default program.
How to shut down processes using Terminal
- Launch Terminal. Press Command and spacebar to pull up Spotlight then start typing Terminal. When the Terminal app appears in Spotlight, tap Return to launch it. Alternatively, navigate to the Utilities folder in Applications and double-click Terminal.
- View processes. When Terminal has launched, type 'top' into the Terminal window. You'll see a list of currently running processes. At the top of the list is an overview of the processes that are running and the resources they're consuming.
- Kill an unwanted process. When you identify a process that's causing a problem or consuming too many resources, take note of the number in the PID column next to the name of the process. To kill the process, type 'kill -9' followed by the PID number. Press Enter. The problem process will now quit.
How to prevent problematic processes
You can pretty much avoid issues altogether by being a little bit proactive in hunting down the common culprits. Here, iStat Menus will help you identify which applications or processes are consuming finite resources, such as CPU and RAM.
Then, you can use CleanMyMac maintenance routines that, when run regularly, will keep you Mac running smoothly. Here's how to do that:
- Launch Setapp and search for CleanMyMac.
- Find the maintenance scripts. Under the Speed section in the left sidebar, click on Maintenance. You will see a list of tasks that CleanMyMac would suggest you to perform to optimize your Mac. You should try to run them all, but the one especially important for us is under Run Maintenance Scripts.
- Run the maintenance scripts. Click on the checkbox next to Run Maintenance Scripts and then click Run. Alternatively, choose another specific maintenance script such as Speed Up Mail or Reindex Spotlight and click Run. When it's finished, click Select Tasks to return to the list of maintenance tasks.
Run other tasks, as necessary. If you're having problems with Mail, repeat step 3, but this time click the checkbox next to Speed Up Mail. Likewise, if Spotlight is running slowly, run the Reindex Spotlight task.
How to kill a background process
To kill a background process, use Activity Monitor. While the steps are the same as described in the 'How to kill a running process using Activity Monitor' section above, the key difference is that background processes often have obscure names that don't clearly describe what they do.
Be careful when killing a background process and, if not sure, leave it alone or search online for its exact role in your system. Otherwise, you might risk causes problems for your macOS. Generally, background processes don't tend to consume significant RAM or CPU cycles, so if you spot one that does, it has probably got into trouble. Kill it using the X in the Activity Monitor toolbar.
How to easily remove startup items
Restarting Mac In Recovery
One common cause of Macs running slowly or having problems is items that launch automatically at startup. These could be helper apps for something like iTunes or just complete apps in their own right. They are also frequently apps you once used but no longer need.
To review the apps and helpers that startup when you log in
- Launch System Preferences from the Apple menu and click on the Users & Groups pane.
- Click the padlock and type in your password.
- Then select your username in the left panel and click the Login Items tab.
- Look through all the login items that correspond to apps you no longer use and then click the minus button. The app will no longer start up automatically when you log in.
How to Force Quit an application that's not responding
If you see the dreaded spinning beachball, or an app just won't do anything, you should force quit it.
There are several ways to force quit an unresponsive application:
- Press Command-Alt-Esc and click on the application in the window that opens. Press Force Quit
- Control-click or right-click on the application's icon in the Dock and choose Force Quit
- Launch Activity Monitor, locate the application and press the 'x' in the toolbar
- Locate the process in Activity monitor, look for the entry in the PID column and launch Terminal. Type 'kill -9' followed by the PID number. Press Enter
Fix crashing apps with Spindump
While Force Quit will fix the problem, it's a temporary solution. If you're determined to identify the source of crashing apps and prevent them from happening, use Spindump on Mac. It's a hang reporting tool that alerts you about the crash and helps share the details with the app developer.
Whenever the app crashes, it will trigger Spindump and send the information to Apple or the app developer. Not only does it help you understand what just happened, but it also helps the developer track the conditions of app misbehavior — and fix it accordingly. A win-win.
How to create a Spindump file on Mac
- Launch Activity Monitor via Applications > Utilities
- Pick the app for which you want to create a Spindump file, then click on the Settings icon
- Select Spindump or Run Spindump
- Wait a few seconds for the file to generate
- Click Save.
Reset a problematic app
There's one more thing you can try if an app keeps running slowly or crashing – reset it. Thanks to CleanMyMac, resetting an app is easy. Here's what you need to do:
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- Locate the uninstaller. In the left hand sidebar of CleanMyMac, click on Uninstaller under Applications.
- Find the app that's causing a problem. Scroll through the list of apps until you find the one that's been crashing or running slowly. Click on it to highlight.
- Reset the app. With the app highlighted, you'll see all the files associated with it in the right-hand window. Click Application Reset at the top of the window and all the files, except the main application file, will be selected.
- Click Uninstall. All the selected files will be trashed, effectively resetting the application to its default state. When you launch it the next time, it will behave as if it has just been installed — so you'll need to recreate any custom settings or preferences.
If resetting the app doesn't work, the final resort should be to uninstall the app completely and reinstall it. To do that, click Complete Uninstallation in the same menu instead of Application Reset.
Restarting Mac Air
As you can see there are lots of different ways and apps that help you view and kill processes in macOS. iStat Menus is a great way to passively monitor which processes are causing problems, so you can launch Activity Monitor and quit them. And running CleanMyMac's maintenance scripts regularly prevents problems occurring in the first place. Best of all, all these apps are available to try for free on Setapp, along with over 200 high-quality macOS apps. So check your Mac for problematic processes now and see what you find.
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
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