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Why do random apps open at MacBook Air startup?

I'm having issues in Catalina 10.15 where random apps come open at startup. These aren't necessarily ones I was using when I shut it down last. Also, in Safari, the sidebar will randomly pop open.

Is this common and how do I fix it? Thank you.


MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Aug 15, 2020 2:14 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 15, 2020 5:24 PM

Check the app Preferences. They might have their own configuration of autostart that you can disable.

You can right-click the app icon in the Dock or click the app name in the Menu bar > Preferences.


You can also check two folders

/Library/StartupItems

/System/Library/StartupItems


BTW, can you tell us what are the apps you're talking abou? That'll help to investigate if there's something specific to them.

9 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 15, 2020 5:24 PM in response to Lorahbee

Check the app Preferences. They might have their own configuration of autostart that you can disable.

You can right-click the app icon in the Dock or click the app name in the Menu bar > Preferences.


You can also check two folders

/Library/StartupItems

/System/Library/StartupItems


BTW, can you tell us what are the apps you're talking abou? That'll help to investigate if there's something specific to them.

Aug 16, 2020 4:29 PM in response to Lorahbee

LOL that's crazy huh 😆


Well, let's try this:

Shut your Mac and turn it on while holding Shift key. This will start your Mac in Safe Mode. It might take several minutes because macOS gives himself some heath care and can solve some problems. You can then restart your Mac normally and see if it stops acting weird.


You can also create a new admin user and play with a while to see if it behaves as you expect. If it does, then transfer your data over there. Once everything is set, delete the old user and that's it.


Final solution is to backup your data to an external drive and do a clean install.

Do not recover from a Time Machine. Just install macOS and copy back your data the old way so it won't copy back old settings that might be messing up with your Mac.

Aug 15, 2020 2:19 PM in response to Lorahbee

To disable apps from opening automatically on startup, you can do the following:


  1. Go to System Preferences → Users & Groups.
  2. Switch to the Login Items tab.
  3. Click the Lock icon in the bottom left corner to change startup programs. It will require your password to allow changes.
  4. Tick the box by the application name to enable or disable it from the automatic login items. Or you can also remove it by clicking the - (minus) button.

Why do random apps open at MacBook Air startup?

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