With Catalina 10.5.2, programs that were open when shutting the Mac down open up when the Mac restats, even though the "Reopen windows when logging back in" box in the shutdown dialog boz is unchecked.
Mac mini, macOS 10.15
By "others" I assume you mean two others besides yourself? It's possible something installed is causing the issue. I have 5 Macs here running Catalina and none have the problem.
See if it occurs when using a different user account. You can also try resetting NVRAM.
Are you sure the applications are not already set to open at Login?
Did this early on. This is a new (to me) issue, but others are reporting it on MacRumors forum, topic - "MBP16,1 & macOS 10.15.2: Shutdown/Windows Reopen Bug"
Yes, I'm sure.
Open programs auto launching on startup
