Set Applications to Launch at Login

Article, Finder, Mac OS X, Novice, System Preferences | April 14th, 2008

Most of us use a few Applications every time we use our computer. Wouldn’t it be nice if these Applications automatically launched themselves when you logged in? This tutorial will tell you exactly how to do so.

1. Open System Preferences. You can do this by left clicking on the Apple icon on the Menubar at the top left corner of your screen and selecting System Preferences.
2. In the System Preferences window that opens, left click on Accounts.
3. With your account selected, click on the Login Items tab and click the + button.
4. From the pane that drops down click on Applications on the left column and select an Application you would like to launch when you login. Left click Add to add the Application as a startup item.
5. Another quick way to do the same as the steps above is to right click on an icon in your dock and select “Open at Login”.

Using the steps above you can add a full array of Applications (and even files) to startup when you login. Keep in mind, the more Applications you choose to startup at login the longer it will take for your Mac to startup as it has to launch all of these Applications at one time. My advice is to launch what you need, but keep it to a minimum!