To many apps start after login - see screenshot

To check Apps that open on login:

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/open-items-automatically-when-you-log-in-mh15189/10.13/mac/10.13

That means windows that are open when you click log out.

The recents list has no active role in any of this. it's just a shortcut to stuff you've used recently and no more.

nikolaj44 wrote:

Thank you Mac Jim ID, I want to give you my feedback.

The simultaneous existence of the "apple menu" -> recent items, system settings -> general -> open at login and the "reopen windows when logging back in "at apple menu -> logout item, seem inconsistent at least and possibly in conflict with each other at worst.

They are all independent items. Recent items are things used recently. Open at login are apps you want to open when you log into your account. Reopen Windows allows you to resume working on what you had open when you restarted or shut down. There is no consistency or conflict as they all perform different functions.

The table on the Login Items forms with the title "Allow in the Background" seems to enable/disable various LaunchDaemon .plist entries, without giving the support for removing them.

You uninstall the app that put them there using the uninstaller provided by the developer of the app.

If you think you've found a bug then report it to Apple:

Product Feedback - Apple

But as this is not happening to other folks, and we aren't seeing a lot of the reports on here, then the issue is more likely to be either a glitch local to your machine or user action.

Yes, I am asking why all these apps do open on startup when most of them were not running at logout and when the recent list was cleared to empty.

Apps open at start up if they are told to. They can be told to in various ways as detailed above. If they're not being told to in one or other of those ways, then it is possible you have a glitchy plist file that's not being updated at each shut down. This is what I mean by a glitch local to your machine. Regrettably, I have no idea which file in your ~/Library/Preferences covers this, but someone else might.

I don't understand where the problem is. Are you asking why all these apps reopen on start up? Or are you asking why the recents lists says the do, even if they don't launch on start up?

Yes, I understand you have some weird problem. I wasn’t trying to solve that. I was explaining how those three different things work as you improperly concluded they are interrelated.