how do I control what launches at startup

Dealing With The Resume Feature of Lion

Managing Mac OS X Lion's application resume feature.

If you shutdown your computer you should get a dialog asking if you want applications to resume on the next startup. Simply uncheck the box to prevent that from occurring. Open General preferences and uncheck the option to Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps. You can also install a third-party utility to control resume features on individual applications: RestoreMeNot or Application State Cleaner.

It is possible to completely stop the Resume feature although I'm unconvinced that it is that annoying. Nevertheless see the following:

If you have not yet done so you must first make your /Home/Library/ folder visible. Open the Terminal application in the Utilities folder. At the prompt paste the following command line:

chflags nohidden ~/Library

Press RETURN. Quit the Terminal application.

In the Finder navigate to the /Home/Library/Saved Application State/ folder. Delete the contents of the folder. Back up to the /Home/Library/ folder. Select the Saved Application State folder. Press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. In the Sharing and Permissions panel at the bottom click on the lock icon and authenticate. Set each of the listed entries to Read Only. Close the Get Info window.

Quit all open programs except the Finder (this is very important.) Next, navigate to the /Home/Library/Preferences/ByHost/ folder. Look for a .plist file with "com.apple.loginwindow." in the file name followed by some numbers in hexadecimal. Select the file. Press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window and in the Sharing and Permissions panel click on the lock icon and authenticate. Set each of the listed entries to Read Only. Close the Get Info window. If you also find a file with the same filename but with a last extension of ".lockfile," then you should delete it.

The above should eliminate the Resume feature system-wide. Note that any future system updates or upgrades will likely undo these changes. You will then need to repeat this procedure assuming there are no major changes in OS X related to it.

In General preferences of System Preferences check the box "Close windows when quitting applications."

I very much disagree with all the suggestions made above, except the last sentence.

The Resume feature can be useful once you take the time to get used to it. To avoid having an application reopen when you log in, simply close its windows before logging out. That's all you need to do.

When you log out, you'll be prompted to choose whether or not you want open applications to resume their state when you next log in. Your choice will be remembered.

It is certainly not true that you need to unhide the Library folder in order to get into it, which should rarely be necessary, and is not at all necessary in this situation. If you do need to get into it, hold down the option key and select Go > Library from the Finder menu bar.

As for changing the permissions of user files to read-only, do not do it. Ever.

I really dislike that "resume" feature and would like to completely disable it. Is that possible?

thanks

d

What exactly do you disagree with? Is there a mistake? Is this just a matter of opinion on your part? That was a rather bold and inconsiderate remark since you make it without any justification.

Secondly, I never stated that you needed to unhide the Library folder in order to access it. But making it permanently visible may be very convenient for some users.

Thirdly, there isn't necessarily anything wrong with changing permissions on a user file. Sure, it's not recommended, but "do not do it. Ever." is a bit excessive.

You should take care not to word things like someone died and made you king.

I really dislike that "resume" feature and would like to completely disable it. Is that possible?

The last sentence of the post by Kappy timestamped Sep 13, 2012 11:45 AM explains how to do that.