How to stop applications opening on login?
Whenever I reboot my computer a handful of annoying apps open automatically including Spotify, Epic Games launcher, and some kind of Adobe software updater. I know there are two official ways to stop items launching on login:
- Removing them from "login items" in System Preferences
- Right clicking in the dock and unchecking "Open at login"
However all of these applications do not appear in System Preferences and don't have "Open at Login" checked in the dock (are they purposely dodging removal?). I assume I can dig through the app settings to stop these things launching, but that's annoying and feels like capitulation.
How can I stop these from opening at login?
From my own answer at Super User…
If it is not in the regular user Login list, then it is most likely in LaunchDaemons.
There are several locations for these, one is for Apple daemons only:
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
The others are to include 3rd party processes, /Library/LaunchDaemons and ~/Library/LaunchDaemons.
You may also need to remove from /Library/LaunchAgents or ~/Library/LaunchAgents
Simply remove or zip the process you don't wish to auto-launch & it should be gone at next boot.