Shutting down my Mac

[Grouch]

When selecting the "Shut Down" option under the Apple Logo, a box appears asking "Are you sure you want to shut down your computer now?". Below this is a "checked" box for the option to Reopen windows when logging back in. It is automatically "checked" and must be deselected if desired.

How can I (1) eliminate this option altogether or (2) make it where the box is NOT automatically checked? Have searched all over and can't find any way to have the box appear without the "check" in it. My goal is to not have any windows "re-open" when logging back in.

MacBook Pro
Mac OS X
ver. 10.7.3

[benwiggy]

There has been quite a lot written on the subject of how to turn off Apple's Resume feature in Lion. You should be able to find many pages on this with a quick Google search.

Sorry not to spell it out for you, but I enjoy the feature, so haven't committed the steps for disabling it to memory.

[NaOH]

These Terminal commands should do the trick, though the checkbox you see in the Shutdown prompt will still be selected, though its presence shouldn't matter.

defaults write com.apple.loginwindow TALLogoutSavesState -bool false
defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowLaunchesRelaunchApps -bool false

If that doesn't work, there was another thread on this subject recently which contains some other ideas to try.

[NovaScotian]

Funny about this feature -- I'd like it on my laptop but Snow Leopard doesn't have it, but hate it on my Lion iMac. TinkerTool has a setting: Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps (This setting is independent of the setting to relaunch applications when logging out and logging back in). They don't have one for restarting apps, however.

[NaOH]

Quote: Originally Posted by NovaScotian Funny about this feature -- I'd like it on my laptop but Snow Leopard doesn't have it, but hate it on my Lion iMac. TinkerTool has a setting: Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps (This setting is independent of the setting to relaunch applications when logging out and logging back in). They don't have one for restarting apps, however.

It must be something about how I use a computer (Mac-style, that is), but the idea of automatically re-opening applications or their windows/documents just doesn't suit me. I launch something like TextEdit probably 10 times a day, and maybe one of those times do I want to see the document I was last viewing. It's similar for me with Preview. And lesser-used applications make even less sense to me for that approach. For example, if I open System Preferences > Keyboard for something today, the odds are minuscule that when I open System Preferences tomorrow it's to make a change in the same pane.

For different reasons, auto-application launching is the same for me. I'll launch them on an as-needed basis. Yes, all applications I use with any regularity are easily launched with a couple of key presses (thank you, Keyboard Maestro), but even without that the idea of auto-launching applications just doesn't fit in with my mental frameworks. Perhaps oddly, I even feel that way about something like Mail.app, which is almost always open.

But on an iOS device I appreciate the resume features. There it seems logical and appropriate to me. I've never really thought about it, but I would imagine it's a combination of factors, one being how many iOS apps are more toward the single-task design, the other being the fact that there isn't a user-facing file system.

Regardless of how I may feel, I'd be curious how well Apple can evaluate consumer response to Mac features like Resume. I'm confident the average person doesn't know of the System Preferences > General setting or any of the other means of circumventing this permanently or temporarily. Likewise, I figure most folks won't be visiting the Apple feedback page to offer their opinions. There are other things like this (for example, Duplicate in place of Save As), and I wonder for my own edification how Apple judges the efficacy of these decisions.

[benwiggy]

It's a new method, and there's ben a lot of noise about it. But then, people who like it aren't likely to post on forums.

Ironically, the one app that has always maintained its windows on restart, Finder, doesn't always do that for me one Lion.

I've said it before: I'm sure that people in the future will say "remember when we had to save files manually?", and "Remember when you had to open and close apps manually?"

It's a big change from how things have been, but then so was the mouse.

[NovaScotian]

One of the things I've really grown to appreciate is how Lion handles memory. At any given time, I've got 10 or 12 apps running and a bunch of menu bar stuff too, but the available memory (12 GB in my case) is usually only 1/3 to 1/2 full with no swapping. That way the apps I use all the time are near instantly available to me. Of course, that's why I hate it when I forget to uncheck the box to avoid reopening them when I have to restart (rarely, so easily forgotten) -- it just takes too long before the machine is mine again.

[NaOH]

Quote: Originally Posted by benwiggy It's a new method, and there's ben a lot of noise about it. But then, people who like it aren't likely to post on forums.

I know what you're saying here and I think there's a bit of truth to it. But I also think it goes beyond that. People, whether they favor a change or not, aren't likely to post a comment in a forum. I mean, for all the online comments people make, that's a small amount of the users involved.

Anecdotal, but two friends who use me for tech support were recently asking me if there's a way to get back Save As. These are the epitome of average computer users, and there's no way they would ever post about this change anywhere online. I don't point that out to defend anything I've already said, just as a re-statement of what I wondered before: How does Apple judge the reception of these decisions? Is there anything they can reliably use, whether data from online comments, system logs they receive, in-store customer statements, etc.?

Quote: Originally Posted by benwiggy Ironically, the one app that has always maintained its windows on restart, Finder, doesn't always do that for me one Lion.

Same here (though I feel like that hasn't always been the case for me under Lion, maybe only since 10.7.3).

Quote: Originally Posted by benwiggy I've said it before: I'm sure that people in the future will say "remember when we had to save files manually?", and "Remember when you had to open and close apps manually?" It's a big change from how things have been, but then so was the mouse.

You may well be correct. I tried to frame my take not as a criticism of Apple design decisions, just as my opinion. I appreciate that as a computer user I'm an outlier so my opinion is not likely to be of much value in these assessments. Heck, even when a company like Apple does something I genuinely think was a bad move/design/whatever, I tend to keep my mouth shut in forums like this. I just don't think that's a constructive way of providing feedback.

Quote: Originally Posted by NovaScotian Of course, that's why I hate [having lots of applications open] when I forget to uncheck the box to avoid reopening them when I have to restart (rarely, so easily forgotten) -- it just takes too long before the machine is mine again.

I've got that feature disabled, but before I set it that way my method for preventing that was pretty simple (to me, at least). I already have System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts set to Full Keyboard Access for All Controls. With that in place, pressing Control-Eject to initiate the Shutdown prompt, followed by slapping the Space Bar to uncheck that option, then R (restart) or Return (shutdown) worked well, taking all of about 1 second.

[NovaScotian]

Quote: Originally Posted by NaOH I've got that feature disabled, but before I set it that way my method for preventing that was pretty simple (to me, at least). I already have System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts set to Full Keyboard Access for All Controls. With that in place, pressing Control-Eject to initiate the Shutdown prompt, followed by slapping the Space Bar to uncheck that option, then R (restart) or Return (shutdown) worked well, taking all of about 1 second.

Neat -- gonna do it!

[ricede]

Quote: Originally Posted by NaOH I've got that feature disabled, but before I set it that way my method for preventing that was pretty simple (to me, at least). I already have System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts set to Full Keyboard Access for All Controls. With that in place, pressing Control-Eject to initiate the Shutdown prompt, followed by slapping the Space Bar to uncheck that option, then R (restart) or Return (shutdown) worked well, taking all of about 1 second.

Thats brilliant NaOH. I also didn't know that one. Thanks.

[NaOH]

In case folks don't know the other keyboard shortcuts related to power control, here they are:

Control-Eject: Shutdown dialog

Control-Shift-Eject: Display sleep

Command-Option-Eject: Immediate sleep

Command-Control-Eject: Immediate restart

Command-Option-Control-Eject: Immediate shutdown

Anyone who doesn't want applications re-opening on log in should not use the last two shortcuts.

[NovaScotian]

Quote: Originally Posted by NaOH In case folks don't know the other keyboard shortcuts related to power control, here they are: Control-Eject: Shutdown dialog Control-Shift-Eject: Display sleep Command-Option-Eject: Immediate sleep Command-Control-Eject: Immediate restart Command-Option-Control-Eject: Immediate shutdown Anyone who doesn't want applications re-opening on log in should not use the last two shortcuts.

Thanks for these too -- I'm a huge fan of keyboard shortcuts, have a ton of macros in Keyboard Maestro for running various AppleScripts, shell scripts, centering a window, etc.