Start-Up Items - Are any actually absolutely required?

krs


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A new post here prompted me to look at the start up items on the Mini I use daily and I was a bit surprised to see about two dozen start up items listed most of which I never added to the start up item list.
Seems some applications add themselves to the start up item list when one downloads them or opens them.

The ones I recognize I deleted from the list, but there are a few that look more like system files.
Basic question - Are there any files or apps that need to be in the start up item list to allow the Mac to boot up? I would hope not, but I also don't want to take the chance of deleting an item in that list and then not being able to boot up the Mac.

PS: Just noticed that Apple calls these "Log in Items" but I can't change the subject line

These are the ones I have left after deleting the apps I recognized.

Mac Login items.jpg
 
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Nothing is required to be in the Login Items list for booting. That list varies from account to account, so if you see things you don't want/use, you can delete them. The third one down, labelled "Startupd" is missing, which is what the symbol over the icon means. In general, any application you have deleted can be removed from the list.
 

Raz0rEdge

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Whatever is needed to operate the OS is not going to be in the list there. These are all unique to your account and the applications you have installed. You can remove them all and if you don't need the support they deliver. For example, get rid of GrowlHelper and not all of your notifications will go to Growl. Looks like you've uninstalled Alfred but the startup link is present (but not working since it can't find the application).

Screen Shot 2019-04-10 at 12.36.51 PM.png

This is the list of apps that I have on my MBP. Only iTunesHelper came by default for me, the others are things I've installed and allow to run.

If there is an app that you ALWAYS startup on your machine it makes sense to have it in this list. Otherwise, it's best to keep the list to an absolute minimum to have a speedy startup.
 
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Well said, Ashwin.
 
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krs

krs


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Thanks,

I don’t even know what most of these items are:

Growl - Most useless and annoying, I will get rid of that
StartupAgent - no idea what this is related to
System - ???
FFMultiAngle - ???
CheckUpAlert - ???
EEventManager - ???
Alfred - ???
fuspredownload - ???

Other than GROWL, they have names that don't relate to an app I recognize.
Don't know what "Alfred" is either.

OK, I just google "Alfred" - I remember trying it and then deleting it.
Didn't expect the app to automatically add itself to the Log in list
 
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If you're curious, a web search should help you to identify those apps.
 
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As toMACsh said, you can search for the unique ones, although "System" and "StartupAgent" are pretty common names with no unique identifiers. You can see if you can get them to show in finder. On my trackpad, a two finger click seems to open a "Show in FInder" box.
 
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krs

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Yes - I'm just in the process of seeing what I can find.
 
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OK - got rid of all of them except two.
All good now I think.
 

chscag

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Keep in mind that there are other areas where apps can insert a startup command and not necessarily show up in your Login Items.

For Example: Macintosh HD/Library/LaunchAgents

And several other places including some in your Home folder.
 

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