Firefox automatically opens on startup....why?

Question

Level 1

1 points

Firefox automatically opens on startup....why?

Hi there,

I've been pulling my hair out over this issue and I just cannot understand why Firefox decides to start up whenever I log in:

1. My Firefox application is ~/Applications/Browsers/Firefox.app
2. It is NOT ticked in my startup items (System Preferences -> Accounts)
3. When I rename another application (for instance Opera.app, which is in the same directory) to Firefox.app (and also rename Firefox.app to something different temporarily), Opera will start in place of Firefox (i.e. whatever application uses the name "Firefox.app")

It really has me baffled. I tried grepping the entire hard drive for the string ".*Browsers/Firefox.app" with no luck, and removing the program and placing it somewhere else DOES seem to do the trick (although this is just a cheap workaround). This only started happening recently and I can't understand why.

Also - Firefox is NOT my default browser, I use Safari.

Can anybody possibly point me in the correct direction?

Cheers
-Z

Powerbook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.8), PPC (1.5 Ghz) w/1GB RAM

Posted on Jan 28, 2007 6:02 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

82,931 points

Jan 28, 2007 6:30 AM in response to TheMonkeY

Welcome to Apple Discussions!

Just the virtue of being in the startup items it may startup in anycase regardless of whether or not it is checked off. Try simply removing it from the startup items entirely.

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Answer 2

John Potts

Level 4

3,118 points

Jan 28, 2007 7:50 AM in response to TheMonkeY

I had a similar case recently when an app would open at start up despite not figuring at all in my startup items in system preferences > accounts: it wasn't a matter of unchecking the box - it didn't feature at all in the list of items.

I solved it by going to Mac HD>Library>StartupItems and trashing the folder for the app in question.

Worth having a look in that folder to see whether there's a Firefox folder there.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 3

TheMonkeY Author

Level 1

1 points

Jan 28, 2007 4:27 PM in response to TheMonkeY

I simply removed the firefox entry from the "login items" preference pane. Despite being unticked, it still started up. This stopped once I removed it from the list completely.

Thanks!

Other possible keywords for people that undergo the same issue (not necessarily with firefox):

Application startup on login automatically accounts login items StartupItems

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Answer 4

a brody

Level 10

82,931 points

Jan 28, 2007 5:37 PM in response to TheMonkeY

Good to hear. Please remember to mark posts solved or helpful as suggested.

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Answer 5

danny'ss

Level 1

20 points

Jan 28, 2007 6:16 PM in response to TheMonkeY

The check box next to the startup items in your user pane specifies wether or not the app opens a window or not. Without the check mark the app loads but not no window is opened. The fact that the app is in the list starts it up.

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Answer 6

Apr 11, 2007 6:29 PM in response to a brody

woohoo! i asked about this weeks ago on the mozilla forums - nothing. so glad this isnt auto launching anymore. the slow startup was driving me mad. thanks!

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