Why does my Mac reopen programs when restarting without being told to?

[aMUSEd]

The restart command brings up a checkbox to "Reopen windows when logging back in" - I always leave it unchecked but regardless, if I have any programmes open it will reopen them on startup. Why does it ignore this setting? If I reboot my Mac I expect it to open with nothing loaded except the programmes I have specifically set to be startup programmes. Otherwise how can I use restart to start the system afresh with a minimal amount of programmes loaded into memory, particularly annoying if I have a misbehaving programme I don't want to reload on startup. Is there any way to get it to behave as one would expect?

[wesleyt]

I usually quit my apps, wait ten seconds, and then restart. If I don't wait, then it sometimes restarts a few of the apps I had open.

[ZenPunkHippy]

I've managed to turn that behaviour feature off (well most of the time, it still happens occasionally) but can't remember the setting.

Is "Close windows when quitting an application" checked in Preferences > General?

[ZenPunkHippy]

Could also try this command line setting:

Code: Select all

defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool no

(found on this thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/32 ... 0&tstart=0)

[aMUSEd]

Could also try this command line setting:

Code: Select all

defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool no

(found on this thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/32 ... 0&tstart=0)

Thanks - that thread is exactly what I needed:

And one of them is the computer crashing and restarting on it's own, but of course it restarts by opening EVERY window of EVERY application that was running when it crashed....which of course creates ANOTHER crash.

I can't understand why Apple think this reopening behaviour is a good thing, or why unchecking an option to reopen windows on Startup should not do what it says it should do. One of the key principles of interface design is people need to get predictable results from their actions - they should know this - they seem to be gradually forgetting everything Don Norman taught them. I'll try that string, I presume it can't do any harm?

[ZenPunkHippy]

According to this thread the "ApplePersistence" setting disables auto open along with auto save + versioning:

http://apple.stackexchange.com/question ... plications

If that doesn't bother you, yes it's safe to use. You can always re-enable by passing "yes" as the final parameter:

Code: Select all

defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool yes

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I can't understand why Apple think this reopening behaviour is a good thing

i guess the assumption is that the only time a restart is necessary, is when things start crashing in the middle of what you are doing. in such cases, it would be convenient to launch back into the same workflow

but, as you said, it should do what you choose to, if it gives the option

[aMUSEd]

According to this thread the "ApplePersistence" setting disables auto open along with auto save + versioning:

http://apple.stackexchange.com/question ... plications

If that doesn't bother you, yes it's safe to use. You can always re-enable by passing "yes" as the final parameter:

Code: Select all

defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool yes

Actually that's great - autosave is another annoying 'feature' I could do without.

thanks - I see I am not the only one with this problem

[KrisM]

I hate to be that guy, but my MBA only reopens programs on restart when I tell it to. The only offender was Chrome, because Google is a f**king asshole and installs it to autorun on your account when you sign in (Windows, too, and yeah, I know it's for Google Now or something, but it was still annoying), but that can be disabled under Settings -> Accounts -> Login Items.