What are startup items?
Startup items, or login items, are services and applications that launch every time you start your Mac. These are applications that sneak into startup items without notice, never asking if you need or want them there. This way you may end up with a dozen apps launching as soon as you turn on your Mac, weighing heavily on its processor and memory capacities and slowing it down. Such items can increase your Mac’s startup time and decrease its performance.
Plus, sometimes when you remove an application or a service, it leaves a login item with a broken link. These broken login items are completely useless, cause unwanted messages, and waste your Mac's resources (because they look for non-existent applications). Whether you're running macOS Catalina or El Capitan, or earlier — it's all the same, so just read on.
Learn How to Completely Uninstall Programs on # Mac with AppCleaner. Delete files on mac completely. Delete files on mac completely. 4 Best Tools to Recover Data From Hard Drives and Memory Cards.
Removing Programs From Macbook
So, let's go over how to take control of login items, and how to get rid of unwanted, broken or hidden startup items.
- The screenshot above, you can see cache files that were left behind by the programs. There no use for these files, we can remove the files completely from Mac. Use Uninstaller Files to Remove Mac Apps. There are some Mac app developers, they provide uninstaller files to uninstall the apps from Mac completely.
- Open Launchpad on your PC. To do so, you can apply single click on Launchpad app, that is available in Dock. Or you can also Pinch with thumb and three fingers on the Trackpad (depends on settings). Select the program that you want to delete from your Mac.
- How to uninstall default apps on Mac with Terminal. Despite the warning, it is possible to remove unnecessary standard programs via Terminal. But first, you should know that with the release of macOS 10.12 Apple has made changes in its security technology System Integrity Protection (SIP) and it now forbids modifying system items on Macs.
- Remove all Norton programs for Mac using the RemoveNortonMacFiles tool To completely remove all Norton application files and references on your Mac, download and run the RemoveNortonMacFiles tool. Download and run RemoveNortonMacFiles as an administrator.
How to disable startup programs?
Do you want to stop programs from running at startup? There’s an easy way to remove programs from startup and get your Mac to load faster on launch. The fastest way to turn off startup items on Mac is an app like CleanMyMac X.
- Download CleanMyMac for free.
- Launch the app.
- Open Optimization tab.
- Click on Login items.
- From the list of apps, disable the ones you don’t need on startup.
- Done!
How to change startup programs manually?
Disabling Mac startup programs is possible manually. Therefore, if you have some time and would like to do it yourself, follow the steps below.
Your login items are listed in settings. One of the easiest ways to control startup items is inside System Preferences > Users & Groups.
- Open System Preferences.
- Go to Users & Groups.
- Choose your nickname on the left.
- Choose Login items tab.
- Check startup programs you want to remove.
- Press the “–” sign below.
- You’re done.
- If you need to add an item back, press “+” and choose the app you’d like add.
- Then restart your Mac to see the changes.
How to fix broken startup items?
Removing Programs From Mac Os X
Broken Mac startup files are left there because some part of apps are left on your Mac long after you’ve moved the app to the Trash. To get rid of these parts and to fix your startup, you’re going to need CleanMyMac again. First, you need to check if they’re among startup items and disable them if so. You can do it following the instructions above. Then you need to remove app leftovers. CleanMyMac works fine on macOS Big Sur and earlier OS.
- Launch CleanMyMac.
- Choose Uninstaller tab.
- Scroll through the list of apps.
- If you spot any app that you’ve deleted, check them.
- Delete the app leftovers you’ve chosen.
You can also find and remove broken login items with the help of System Junk module:
- Choose System Junk tab.
- Click Scan.
- Review details and click Clean.
Finally, you need to clean your macOS startup items through launch services:
- Open Maintenance tab.
- Choose Rebuild Launch Services.
- Hit Run.
- Done.
Once you do it, all broken app data on your Mac will be fixed.
Remove daemons and agents from startup process
If speaking of files, first go to the system folder /Library/StartUpItems. Here you’ll find all the startup files that are being launched with the system. You can delete the login item you think is necessary if you’re totally sure what you are doing.
Also, the /Library/LaunchDaemons folder contains a bunch of preference files that define how the application that is being launched along with the system should work. You might want to delete some of these files as well if you know you don’t need them and removing them is safe.
The /Library/LaunchAgents contains preference files responsible for the apps that launch during the login process (not the startup).
The above-mentioned folders contain app-related files. However, you can also check system folders to review whether you need some of the system applications to be running on startup:
- /System/Library/LaunchDaemons - note that besides preference files this folder contains other important system items that are recommended to keep untouched.
- /System/Library/LaunchAgents - most probably, you won’t also find anything worth removing in this folder, however, keeping this location in mind might help you find files related to a problematic app that causes troubles on Mac startup. If you have a problematic application that messes about on login, you can try to trace it back from this folder.
But, if you’re looking for simple ways to remove login items, we suggest using a professional Mac utility. Download CleanMyMac X for free and make unwanted and broken login items a thing of the past.
To completely remove all Norton application files and references on your Mac, download and run the RemoveNortonMacFiles tool.
Download and run RemoveNortonMacFiles as an administrator
Download the RemoveNortonMacFiles.zip file.
Click the Finder icon in the Dock.
In the Finder window, click Downloads in the left pane under Favorites.
Do one of the following:
If you downloaded the file using Safari browser, open the RemoveNortonMacFiles folder.
If you downloaded the file using the Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome browsers, double-click the RemoveNortonMacFiles.zip file to expand it, and then open the RemoveNortonMacFiles folder.
In the RemoveNortonMacFiles folder, control-click the RemoveNortonMacFiles.command file, and then click Open with > Terminal (default). Epos 4 excel v1.6.1 releasedepos 4 excel.
To run this tool, you must be logged on with an Administrator account and a non-blank password.
Do one of the following:
If you have not uninstalled Norton application on your macOS 10.15.x or later, a message appears in the Terminal window that prompts to drag and drop Norton from Applications folder to Trash. Go to step 7.
If you have macOS 10.14.x and earlier, OR if you already uninstalled Norton on your macOS 10.15.x or later, go to step 13.
In the Terminal window, press return to open the Applications folder in Finder.
In the Applications folder, select the Norton application, and then drag and drop it to the Trash.
When you see a prompt, type your administrator account password, and then click OK.
In the Norton installer window, click Uninstall.
If you see a prompt, type your administrator account password, and then click Install Helper.
When the Norton uninstall finishes, run the RemoveNortonMacFiles.command file in Terminal again.
For more information, refer to the instructions in step 5 above.
In the Terminal window, type your administrator password, and then press return.
When you type your password, no characters appear.
To remove all Norton files and folders, type 1.
If you want to quit RemoveNortonMacFiles without removing any files, type 2.
Press return.
RemoveNortonMacFiles tool removes all of the Norton files.
When the RemoveNortonMacFiles tool finishes removing the Norton files, in the Terminal window, type y, and press return to restart your Mac.
Before you press return, make sure that you save your work in other open applications.
RemoveNortonMacFiles removes all the folders that Norton installers created, and all the files within those folders including any that you have created.