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Login Items list incomplete

Avatar Peter Shepheard
I recently downloaded Mediafire Express and through not paying attention left a box "open at startup" ticked. Next time I started my iMac this programme, unsurprisingly, opened and its icon appeared in my menu bar.
Wishing to prevent this on next startup I went to System Preferences/Users and Groups/Login Items to remove it. It was not however listed. In fact only four items were listed and only three of these ticked - TomTom and ColorMunki (a screen calibration programme) and iTunesHelper.

I expected to find a longer list than this and I certainly expected the Mediafire Express application to be listed.

Can anyone explain why it may not be listed and why it stratus if it is not listed? How can an unlisted application be removed from the start up process? Other, of course, from doing what I did which was to Trash the application.

Running 10.7.5.

Re: Login Items list incomplete

Avatar Mick Burrell
It will probably need someone with more knowledge than me to explain fully - and to say if I'm right in my guess but my understanding would be that as a cloud storage facility, it could logically be assumed that you would need its icon available at all times to drop files onto for upload. I wonder therefore if it put the icon on your menu bar but the "application" does not run until you use it so is not actually running - the only "running" is to put that icon up there. OK, you've trashed it now but you could have used Activity Monitor to confirm whether it was running or not.

Re: Login Items list incomplete

Avatar Peter Shepheard
Thanks Mick and interesting point. I thought I would try to follow it up and look at another piece of software - Sophos.
A few months ago I started running the free version of Sophos. This scans my emails and occasionally reports something that it has found and clears it up. I can see this using 0.1%CPU in activity monitor so would have expected that this would show up as a Login item but it does not.
I'm not sure what this indicates.

Re: Login Items list incomplete

Avatar Mick Burrell
It's also possible (Activity Monitor will show you) that these programs are being run by root rather than you so would not show up in your 'run at startup' list. You will see in AM several items run by root - don't interfere with them i.e. don't quit them from AM.
 
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