NOT having applications re-launch at start?

[onceagain]

Quote: Originally Posted by onceagain Hey, I think that worked! After two power manager reset instant shutoff tests, applications failed to auto-launch each time. Hopefully, this particular defaults/write trick will "stick". We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'll put those two lines in my "standard install" documentation. Thanks for your help.

Just as a side note - I rebooted "normally" and had the "re-open windows" thing checked, and it still didn't re-open anything. That's freakin' perfect. Hopefully this fix will not crap-out on me.

Thanks again.

[NaOH]

Those Terminal commands come from the link I gave, but I saw the link because it was the focus of an article on the main Hints site about 10 days ago. Point being, hints.macworld.com has lots of helpful content and it's easy to peruse on a regular basis, so I think it's worth the time.

[onceagain]

Quote: Originally Posted by NaOH Those Terminal commands come from the link I gave, but I saw the link because it was the focus of an article on the main Hints site about 10 days ago. Point being, hints.macworld.com has lots of helpful content and it's easy to peruse on a regular basis, so I think it's worth the time.

Looks like it. I'll put it on my regular places to snoop for info. Thanks.

[jsalmi]

Quote: Originally Posted by NaOH In the Finder, hold the Option key, click on the Go menu, then select Library. When that opens, locate the Saved Application State folder. Open it, then move everything in it to the Trash. Press Command-I, then make certain the box next to Locked is checked. No applications will ever re-open on their own (nor will application states ever be restored when relaunching an application).

I love these types of tips & tricks. Thanks for NaOH.

[onceagain]

Quote: Originally Posted by jsalmi I love these types of tips & tricks. Thanks for NaOH.

No kidding. I applied a bunch of those terminal commands.

It's unfortunate that Apple can be bothered to implement a simple preference pane for the "feature" I requested, and the other things that are available via those terminal commands. I'm sure there are a BUNCH of them, but most people will never know about them. Of course, the haters will say that most people don't care - or that those who do will go figure it out - but I can tell you that the default install includes a LOT of crap that most people do not care about - but yet, there it is.

[DeltaMac]

Yes, there are many more settings that you CAN accomplish through use of the terminal, than those that Apple provides through the System Preferences, and a few other places in the system. Something like MacPilot will provide you with the means to change just about any setting that you can imagine, and many more that you can't guess at until you read about them.
I have decided that Apple balances out the needs of the user, against making the choices over-complex (giving a System Preferences window that would be unwieldy, at best)
And - I think it's not that people don't care - but just that most people don't have an interest in adding the family coat-of-arms to the login window (just to note something that I have seen, but have no interest in for myself.) Bottom line is: you _can_ make lots of modifications to an OS X system, including many that can easily ruin the user experience - some modifications that you _can_ make might leave your system impractical in actual use. For example, adjusting the delay time for typing response might be a good approach for some purposes, but leave a temporary user mumbling about how "Apple screwed up the keyboard - again!"
Anyway, I think this is a corollary of the 90% rule.
90% of users are satisfied with the setup of their computer, or seldom make any changes at all after the initial setup.
10% may have other needs. More like 1%, or less, continue on with internal/hidden settings, which are sometimes not straightforward, and may need special knowledge, or particular interest to even complete. In my recollection, Apple does not cater publicly to the 1% (or whatever smaller % actually go into those minor settings)
Can you do all those things? Sure! You just have to discover how to do them, and realize there's always some risk in mods different from those for usual public consumption...

The other side of this - is that I don't think I can count the number of times that I have seen questions about providing some of the Lion-only features on older OS X versions, such as the "dreaded" restore all windows after a forced reboot. You may not appreciate that feature, yet some folks have seen files saved (and saved the aggravation that a lost term paper or thesis might engender)
There's many sides to this tale, I expect...

[NaOH]

I'll add one point to the great factors DeltaMac just noted, specifically the 90/10 rule (also known as the Pareto Principle): On this site and elsewhere I often see people say something like, "It would be so simple for Apple to add an option to do ______." If all of those simple-to-implement features were added, OS X would be a usability nightmare.

Designing anything well is agonizingly difficult. All design is a matter of balancing features and usability within the constraints inherent to the medium and the use case. These tradeoff are never perfect since something is always lost, but some are better than others. Understanding the 90/10 guideline is one of the more valuable strategies that can be used for making those decisions.

[onceagain]

...and yet they add in some much CRAP - I mean, stuff that I can't believe anyone would possibly think is a good idea. Like those guys who came up with the Pontiac Aztek...or "Clippie".

[DeltaMac]

Ah, well - I suppose there's lots of users who are glad that Apple decided to move ahead, in spite of your opinions.

[onceagain]

Quote: Originally Posted by DeltaMac Ah, well - I suppose there's lots of users who are glad that Apple decided to move ahead, in spite of your opinions.

Oh yes - because preferring Apple not eliminate useful features that I rely on, for no obviously good reason, amounts to somehow holding people back.....

[NaOH]

Quote: Originally Posted by onceagain Oh yes - because preferring Apple not eliminate useful features that I rely on, for no obviously good reason, amounts to somehow holding people back.....

There is an obviously good reason: Resume is a feature that most people like. This is one of the lessons from iOS that Apple has carried over to the Mac. If 2 million people disabled it—and there's no evidence to suggest the number would be that high—then that's only about 10% of the Macs sold in a year. There's that Pareto Principle again.

Just the same, there's no reason to think my minority preferences will ever be accommodated, like enabling me to disable the Dock, removing the Apple menu, including a power key with external keyboards, having multiple rows in the Safari Bookmarks Bar, etc.

But I'm pleased and appreciative for what I get to use. All in all, I've got it pretty darn good.

[onceagain]

Quote: Originally Posted by NaOH But I'm pleased and appreciative for what I get to use.

Only thing I appreciate Apple for is its ever increasing stock price, and the fact that I bought all my shares at $12/each, before its most recent split.

That said - I'm pleased to report that the "patch" for repairing the "resume defect" has been working great. I can let my battery run down to nothing at night, plug it in the next morning and start it up, without waiting for a bunch of crap to auto launch. It's awesome goodness. Thanks again (:

[benwiggy]

Quote: Originally Posted by onceagain Only thing I appreciate Apple for is its ever increasing stock price

The only thing....? Really?

Just to give you some perspective: I shut down my Mac every night and start it up every morning. So the Resume feature is great in allowing me to reboot and have everything just as I left it.

Sure, if I want to make sure that apps don't load at restart, then I have to quit them, and whilst I could get angry at Apple for the unnecessary effort required to flick through Command Tab and press q on each icon -- I usually reckon that is a lot less effort and annoyance than having to spend time getting everything back the way I want it.

But as the old saying has it: you can't please all the people all of the time. But presumably, if Apple's stock price is going up, then lots of people must like the way their products work.

[onceagain]

Quote: Originally Posted by benwiggy The only thing....? Really?

It's computer stuff, not life saving drugs or some other such thing.

Quote: Just to give you some perspective: I shut down my Mac every night and start it up every morning.

See, if I wanted stuff just the way it was, I wouldn't shut it down.

Quote: So the Resume feature is great in allowing me to reboot and have everything just as I left it.

And that's great. I'm just saying that it should be your option, rather than forced on you.

Quote: Sure, if I want to make sure that apps don't load at restart, then I have to quit them

Nah - you can use that tip that NaOH shared - it works great.

Quote: But presumably, if Apple's stock price is going up, then lots of people must like the way their products work.

Some of them, sure. But don't kid yourself - a lot of people buy their stuff because they think it makes them look cool, they succumb to the marketing machine, to "keep up" with whomever, etc. Even the ones that like how the products work are very unlikely to like EVERY aspect of how they work.

[onceagain]

Quote: Originally Posted by NaOH These commands work (though the checkbox in the Shutdown prompt won't show it), but they also supposedly need to be re-entered in Terminal after a restart. defaults write com.apple.loginwindow TALLogoutSavesState -bool false defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowLaunchesRelaunchApps -bool false Truthfully, I don't know. I restarted this afternoon during this thread, leaving Mail and Safari open. They didn't re-launch on boot, and I certainly haven't applied the above commands since my last restart a couple days ago.

Well, crap. This DID work, until I "upgraded" to Mountain Lion. Now it no longer works, even after reapplying it (several times for good measure).

So now I am back to looking for a solution to this problem ):

[NaOH]

Keep an eye on the link below for a Terminal command. It's updated as folks discover new ways of adjusting settings.

https://github.com/mathiasbynens/dot...ob/master/.osx