How to remove startup items in macOS Sierra and earlier OS X?

27/03/17, 21:29

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How to Remove Startup Items on Mac?

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What are startup items? Why clean up startup items?

Startup items, or login items, are services and applications that launch every time
you start your Mac. The are applications who 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

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unwanted messages, and waste your Mac's resources (because it looks for non-
existent applications). Wheather you're running macOS Sierra or El Capitan, or
earlier — it's all the same, so just read on.

So, let's go over how to take contol 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 CleanMyMaс 3.

1. Download CleanMyMac for free.

2. Launch the app.
3. Open Extensions tab.

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4. Click on Login items.

5. From the list of apps, disable the ones you don’t need on startup.
6. Done!

How to fix broken startup items?

It’s not as hard as it sounds. 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 Sierra and earlier OS.

1. Launch CleanMyMac.
2. Choose Uninstaller tab.
3. Scroll through the list of apps.

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4. If you spot any app that you’ve deleted, check them.

5. Delete the app leftovers you’ve chosen.

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.

How to change startup programs manually?

You’ll have a hard time fixing the broken stuff, but simply removing or adding Mac
startup programs is possible manually. Your login items are listed in settings. One of
the easiest ways to control startup items is inside System Preferences > Users &
Groups.

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1. Open System Preferences.

2. Go to Users & Groups.
3. Choose your nickname on the right.
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 make the changes.

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.

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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:

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

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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 3 for free and make unwanted and
broken login items a thing of the past.

Ivan
Exploring latest tech trends. Apple obsessed.

Feb 24, 2015 ( Dec 16, 2016 )

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How to clean and optimize your Mac?

That's easy. With CleanMyMac 3.

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