How do I remove a startup app?

[DiGiTY]

an app was installed and automatically configured to run at startup/login... there's no uninstaller and i don't need the app anymore, how do i stop it from starting up???

TIA

[giskard22]

Usually you go into Sys Prefs/Accounts and remove it from the list of Login Items. If it's not listed there, post back and tell us what the program is. There are a couple of unusual places that apps can make changes to cause this auto-launch behavior. HP multifunction printer drivers, for example, use /Library/Preferences/loginwindow.plist.

[DiGiTY]

it is a driver/utility for Zydas 1211 Wireless G USB Adapter. it's not listed in the account login items.

[trevor]

Look in /Library/StartupItems.

Trevor

[giskard22]

Open Terminal, type the following command exactly, and press return:

defaults read /Library/Preferences/loginwindow

Do you get any output? If you do, do you see "AutoLaunchedApplicationDictionary" with a reference to the problem software?

[DiGiTY]

giskard22: i'm not at the actual Mac with the startup app, but what do I do if there is a reference to that utility?

[giskard22]

Mine looks like this:

{
    AutoLaunchedApplicationDictionary = (
        {
            Hide = 0; 
            Path = "/Applications/Adobe Version Cue CS2/bin/VersionCueCS2Status.app"; 
        }
    ); 
}

As you can see, only one thing is set to be autolaunched. If the same is true of yours, and the listed item is the thing you want to get rid of, you can get rid of the loginwindow.plist file. As you can see from the command, it's in /Library/Preferences.

Trevor's tip is right on. If there's an item in the StartupItems folder that relates to this software, you can just drag it to the trash.

[DiGiTY]

i found it using "defaults read /Library/Preferences/loginwindow". The actual loginwindow.plist looks different from what the above command outputted, so how do I modified the file to remove the WLan.app entry without messing anything up???

the command output:

{
    AutoLaunchedApplicationDictionary = (
        {Hide = 0; Path = "/Library/Printers/hp/hpio/HPEventHandler.app/"; }, 
        {
            Hide = 1; 
            Path = "/Library/Frameworks/HPServicesInterface.framework/Versions/B/Runtime/HP IO Classic Proxy 2.app"; 
        }, 
        {
            Hide = 1; 
            Path = "/Library/Frameworks/HPServicesInterface.framework/Versions/A/Runtime/HP IO Classic Proxy.app"; 
        }, 
        {Hide = 0; Path = "/Library/Printers/hp/HP Communications.app/"; }, 
        {
            Hide = 0; 
            Path = "/Applications/Hewlett-Packard/HP Photo and Imaging Software/HP Photo and Imaging Director/Director Docker.app/"; 
        }, 
        {Hide = 0; Path = "/Applications/Utilities/WLan.app"; }
    ); 
}

And the actual loginwindow.plist file looks like this:

bplist00—
_!AutoLaunchedApplicationDictionary¶“TPathTHide_-/Library/Printers/hp/hpio/HPEventHandler.app/“	
_^/Library/Frameworks/HPServicesInterface.framework/Versions/B/Runtime/HP IO Classic Proxy 2.app	“
_\/Library/Frameworks/HPServicesInterface.framework/Versions/A/Runtime/HP IO Classic Proxy.app	“_+/Library/Printers/hp/HP Communications.app/“_n/Applications/Hewlett-Packard/HP Photo and Imaging Software/HP Photo and Imaging Director/Director Docker.app/“_ /Applications/Utilities/WLan.app

Any ideas???

TIA

[DeltaMac]

Looks like you should be able to go to your Applications/Utilities folder, find WLan, and put that in the trash, and empty the trash. You can log out, then log back in, or simply restart. And the WLan app should be gone completely, nevermore to restart.

[giskard22]

That'll definitely do it. If you want to actually clean up that plist file, the easiest way is Apple's Property List Editor application. It gets installed if you install the Developer Tools (Xcode) off the OS intaller disk.

[dfbills]

Tip worked for me too. Edit the loginwindow.plist