In Summary
Mac startup programs are apps or utilities that run automatically after macOS boots up. If you install a lot of apps on your Mac—especially those that help you with system operations and management—you’ll eventually end up with a long list of startup items that may hog up your Mac’s resources and bring it to a crawl. Fortunately, there are a few different ways to stop Mac startup apps at login, as shown below, which you can use to speed-up your Mac’s boot time and performance.
While this is useful in various scenarios, there are times when even if you don’t want them to start automatically, certain Mac apps may run at startup anyway. Not only does this increase the boot-up time, but it also slows down your Mac and affects its performance. Fortunately, Apple allows you to manage startup programs on Mac based on your preference. Here’s a quick guide showing you all the different ways to stop Mac startup apps at login.
Method 1: Stop Mac Apps from Running at Startup From the Dock
If the app you want to prevent from running at startup is currently running on your Mac or pinned to the Dock, you can disable it easily with a few simple steps:
Right-click the app icon. Select Options and untick the Open at Login option.
Method 2: Disable Mac Startup Programs Through System Preferences
Although Apple allows you to disable Mac apps from running at startup from the Dock, it isn’t a practical approach when you have too many login items on your Mac. For such scenarios, you can disable login items from the Mac System Preferences like this:
Open System Preferences on your Mac. Click on Users & Groups.
Hit the padlock icon and enter your admin password to authenticate access.
Click on the Login Items tab. Click the Mac program you want to prevent running at startup and hit the minus (–) button at the bottom to remove it from the login items list.
Method 3: Stop Mac Apps from Launching at Startup Using Finder
Using System Preferences, you can easily view a list of all login items on your Mac and disable them from launching at startup. However, startup items don’t always constitute apps; there are certain Mac services and processes that run at startup but don’t show up under System Preferences. These processes are called LaunchDaemons and LaunchAgents, and they both fall under the launchd process, which takes care of other processes on Mac. Compared to login items, these processes don’t have a GUI app. Instead, they link with installed apps and perform their intended operations in the background. And so, to disable such Mac processes, you have to remove the associated PLIST (.plist) files that comprise various app-related properties and configurations. Here’s how to do this:
Open Finder. Click on Finder in the menu bar and select Go > Go to Folder. Alternatively, open Finder and hit the Command + Shift + G keyboard shortcut. Depending on the process you want to disable, enter a path in the text window accordingly:
LaunchAgents: /Library/LaunchAgents and ~/Library/LaunchAgents LaunchDaemons: /Library/LaunchDaemons and ~/Library/LaunchDaemons
Inside this folder, you’ll see a bunch of items ending with the .plist extension. Right-click on the startup item—with the same name as the program that continues to run at startup on your Mac—and select Move to Bin to delete it from the folder and prevent it from running at system boot up.
Method 4: Disable Mac Startup Apps Using a Mac Utility Software
If the methods listed so far sound complicated to you, you can use a Mac utility software to manage startup programs on your Mac. Two of these popular utilities include MacKeeper and CleanMyMac X, both of which give you the ability to find and delete daemons and agents as well. Related Read: How to Disable Startup Programs in Windows 11
Keep a Check on Your Mac Login Items
If you install many apps on your Mac—especially those that help you with system operations and management—you’ll eventually end up with a long list of startup items that may hog up your Mac’s resources and bring it to a crawl. To avoid this, you can use any of the methods listed above to keep a check on your Mac’s startup programs list and ensure it doesn’t contain any programs you didn’t authorize to run at login.
Method 1. Display Word from Running at Startup Through Dock
Launch the Word app or add it to your system’s Dock. Right-click on Word’s icon in the Dock and select Options > Open at Login.
Method 2. Display Word from Running at Startup from System Preferences
Launch System Preferences. Go to Users & Groups and select the Login Items tab. Hit the padlock at the bottom and enter your admin password to authenticate access. Select Word from the list of apps under Login Items and hit the minus (-) button to remove it from the list.
Launch Spotify Select Spotify from the menu bar and choose Preferences. Scroll to the bottom of the page. Click the dropdown button next to Open Spotify automatically after you log into the computer and select No from the available options.
~/Library/LaunchAgents /Library/LaunchAgents ~/Library/LaunchDaemons /Library/LaunchDaemons
Open Finder, hit the Command + Shift + G keyboard shortcut, and paste the path of these directories to access them. Once inside, right-click on the PLIST file for the program you want to remove from the startup items list and select Move to Bin.
