Master login items on Mac

The Login Items feature gets an important makeover in macOS Ventura

- Cliff Joseph

Whenever you shut your Mac down, it always asks if you want to reopen any apps or windows that are currently open when you turn the Mac back on again. This is a handy way of carrying on any work that you were doing when you last shut your Mac down. However, there's another way of setting all your key apps to open automatically when your turn on your Mac.

Hidden in the depths of System Preferences - now renamed System Settings in Ventura - is an option to select login items. These are apps that automatically open every time you log in to your account on your Mac, ensuring that your Mac is ready for you to start work as soon as you turn it on. It's a very useful option, but macOS Ventura has completely redesigned the new System Settings panel, moving Login Items to a new location and added an important new feature too.

In the background

As well as setting up your favourite apps as login items, Ventura now displays a list of 'background items'. These aren't proper apps, but they can perform tasks in conjunction with other apps - such as the ever-annoying Microsoft AutoUpdate background item that works with Microsoft Office. Login and background items are very useful for anyone who needs to work with a key set of apps every day, so this is a great opportunity to explore the redesigned System Settings on the Mac to see where everything is now located.