Startup apps on Mac vs Windows: where to find them

27 October 2026 · 5 min read

On Windows, startup apps live in one place: the Startup apps page in Task Manager. On a Mac there is no single list. The part you can see is in System Settings, under General > Login Items & Extensions (Login Items on macOS 14), and it has two halves: apps that open when you log in, and background items that apps are allowed to run. Some startup items sit outside both lists, which is why a Mac can feel like it is starting more than the list says.

The Windows way, for comparison

In Windows Task Manager, the Startup apps page (a Startup tab in older versions) lists the programs set to start with the PC. Each row has a name, a publisher, a status of Enabled or Disabled, and a rating of how much it slows startup. You right-click a row, choose Disable, and it will not start next time. Everything is in one list with one switch per item.

That model is simple, and it is what most people expect when they move to a Mac. The Mac does not hide this list. It just divides it differently.

Where startup apps are on a Mac

Open System Settings and go to General > Login Items & Extensions. The page has two main sections.

Open at Login. These are the apps that open themselves, with a window or in the menu bar, when you log in. This is the closest thing to the Windows list. You can remove an item with the minus button under the list, or add one with the plus button. Removing an item here does not delete the app. It only stops it opening at login.

Allow in the Background. Many apps install helper programs that run without a window: updaters, sync tools, menu bar helpers. macOS lists them here with a switch for each, under the app’s or the developer’s name. Turning a switch off tells macOS not to let that helper run.

On macOS 15 Sequoia and later, the same page also has an Extensions section, which is a different thing: it covers add-ons such as Finder or sharing extensions, which are not startup items in the Windows sense.

What the Mac list does not tell you

Here is where it differs most from Windows. The System Settings page does not rate items by impact, and it does not show whether an item is running right now. You see a name and a switch. Some names are the developer’s company rather than the app, which can make a row hard to place. How to stop apps opening at login on a Mac walks through trimming that list safely.

It also does not flag items left behind by apps you deleted. A background helper whose app has gone can keep a row with no sign that anything is wrong, or leave a file on disk that tries to run and fails. How to remove login items left behind by deleted apps covers those.

Finally, macOS itself runs its own startup jobs, called launch agents and daemons, and apps can install their own. These are the Mac’s equivalent of Windows services and scheduled tasks. The ones apps install usually show up under Allow in the Background; macOS’s own never appear on the page. Launch agents and daemons on a Mac explained in plain English explains where they come from.

A quick side-by-side

Windows: one Startup apps page. Mac: Open at Login plus Allow in the Background in System Settings.
Windows: Enable and Disable on each row. Mac: a minus button for login items, a switch for background items.
Windows: a startup impact rating. Mac: none in System Settings.
Windows: services have their own tool. Mac: macOS’s own launch agents and daemons are not on the Settings page at all.
Windows: leftovers from removed programs can linger. Mac: the same happens, and Settings may show a row for something that no longer exists.

Doing it by hand

If you only want to turn off the obvious offenders, System Settings is enough. Open General > Login Items & Extensions, look at both lists, and ask of each row whether you want that app running every time you log in. If you do not, remove it or switch it off. Restart the Mac once and see whether it settles faster.

Take care with the background list. Turning off a helper can stop an app from syncing, updating or showing its menu bar icon until you turn it back on. If a row’s name means nothing to you, search the name before switching it off, or leave it alone. A switch you can turn back on is a safe experiment. Removing files is not.

How Foreman shows the same thing

Foreman is a Task Manager for Mac, so it has the Windows-style page you may be missing. Its Startup Apps page lists everything that opens at login or runs in the background in one place: login items, launch agents and daemons, and the background items apps register. Items are grouped by the app they belong to and given readable names.

Each row has a status, such as Enabled, Disabled, or Off in System Settings, and “Impact now” shows whether the item is running and how much it is using. You can Disable or Enable an item from the page. System daemons need an administrator password.

Two details are worth knowing. A row marked Program missing is a leftover from an app that was deleted, and Foreman can remove those one at a time (Remove…), or all at once with Clean Up Leftovers. The files go to the Trash. And items an app registered through macOS’s own login items system can only be switched in System Settings, so for those Foreman opens that page in System Settings for you.

With Full Disk Access, Foreman can also read the Allow in the Background switches; without it, Foreman shows a note you can skip. Login items are read through System Events, so macOS asks once whether Foreman may control it.

Foreman is $12 once, free for 24 hours from the first launch, and it needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

When to check

You do not need to audit startup items every week. Look when the Mac feels slow in the first minutes after you log in, when you notice an icon in the menu bar you never installed, or after you delete a batch of apps. Why your Mac is slow right after you start it up is the next read if startup is the thing that bothers you.

The short version for a Windows user: there is a Startup apps list on a Mac, it is in System Settings under General > Login Items & Extensions, and it is split in two. Learn those two halves and you know most of what runs at login.