I am a new MacBook Air (Intel) owner and this function I’m trying to fix is my machine automatically re-opening all previously opened apps & services from last session, when I’d rather start from all closed & open manually. I recall this was a prompt I’d get on my old MacBook but I don’t seem to get that anymore.
I’ve also double checked that there’s nothing listed in my ‘Login Items’ under my user name.
I don’t want to tax my machine by opening ALL the previously opened windows when I don’t necessarily need them all running again.
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Jeff F.
What do you mean by "last session?" What do you consider a "session?" Are you closing the MacBook and then just opening it? Logging out? Or are you shutting it down? Restarting it?
If you are just closing your MacBook, that puts it to sleep. Then it wakes up again when you open it. The same thing as if you chose the Apple menu, Sleep, and then tapped the spacebar to wake it up. In that case, there is definitely no "session" of any kind involved. You are just pausing and resuming your work. That's by design. It makes it easy to keep working even if you have to move from one part of the room to another, or change locations entirely. It is one of the best features of a MacBook, or any laptop.
If you are shutting down or restarting -- why? There's almost no need to ever shut down or restart a MacBook. See https://macmost.com/a-beginners-guide-to-whether-to-shut-down-or-sleep-your-mac.html
So I'm not sure what you are doing to end a "session" and start a new one. I would never use that term myself. I guess if I did I would be starting a session the day I got a MacBook and then continuing the same session for years until I was done with it. Just one long session.
Not sure what you mean by "tax my machine" -- if you aren't using an app you can certainly quit it at any time. Or not. An app not being used isn't using much in terms of system resources. I have many apps open right now.
I can understand, however, wanting to clear away distractions to focus on a specific task. In that case I would just quit as many apps as I can. Then just use the one or two I need for that task.
If you don't like the fact that when you quit an app with a window open, and then relaunch that app and those windows reappear, you can always go to System Preferences, General, and set "Close windows when quitting an app." Whichever option you chose you can always do the opposite when quitting an app by holding Option key (Option+Command+q instead of Command+q).
Note that if you do choose to restart or shut down your MacBook (you shouldn't) then you get the option when you do that as to whether apps automatically reopen. It is a checkbox when you are prompted for confirmation.
Thanks for your response...OK msg received loud n clear, do not close or restart the machine under normal circumstances. But on the rare occasion I decide to, for whatever reason, is there a setting in System Preferences (or wherever) to control this as I do NOT now receive an option to automatically reopen or disable....that's my root question for this thread.
I never power my MacBook off, but is there any reason to close the apps I use everyday or is it OK to leave those apps always "on".
Ken
Jeff: How are you shutting it down? I definitely see a "Reopen Windows When Logging Back In" option when I choose either Shut Down or Restart. You don't see that? Go to Apple Menu, Shut Down.... What do you see when you choose that?
Ken: If you are using the apps all the time, why not leave them running? They would use very little resources if they are not doing anything. For me, apps like Safari, Mail, Notes, Reminders and Messages are always running. Depending on what I am doing I may have Xcode or ScreenFlow running for days at a time.
I always leave mail, notes, evernote and safari open. I use photos and Final cut daily. These are the ones I usually close at the end of the day (not that it matters much with the M1 chip, they open very fast). Just wasn't sure if leaving them open for days was a good idea or not. Thanks