Stop Programs Loading When macOS Starts

If a bunch of applications are slowing your Mac down, here’s how to take control.

The last thing you I need when starting up your Mac is half of the applications deciding they need to open before you can do anything else. It's not that you don't want any application to start when your Mac does, but way too many do this by default, which means you have to wait longer before you can use your machine to do important things.

Disable Reopening Windows on Boot

Your Mac, by default, will reopen all windows after you restart. Disabling this is the best first step to having fewer applications start at boot. While some people appreciate picking up where they left off, others might prefer to choose which apps to open first. The simplest way to change this setting is to uncheck the Reopen windows when logging back in checkbox before restarting.

This setting will stay the same the next time you restart. Note that in the event of a crash, your Mac will still offer to reopen your windows when you boot it up.

Check System Settings

With macOS 13 Ventura, you can find all applications set to start when you log in to System Settings, which you can open by clicking the Apple logo in the top-left corner and then clicking System Settings. Head to General in the left-hand sidebar and then click Login Items.

At the top of the panel, you’ll see all the applications that are set to open as soon as your Mac starts. You can remove any of these by clicking them and then clicking the minus button below the list. You can also add applications if there’s anything that doesn't currently open at boot that you wish would.

Below this, you’ll find a list of apps allowed to run in the background. This section is a little confusing, but to summarize, some applications need to run in the background of your system in order to function. Some of these show up in your menu bar; others don’t. Many entries here do things like update software you’ve installed, so keep that in mind.

In some cases, there will be an “i” icon to the left of the switch. You can click that icon to be brought to the actual file that is set to launch at login. This is useful if you recognize the application but know for a fact that you uninstalled it, you can simply delete the file.

Feel free to scroll through and disable anything you're sure you don't need running, but be careful. In some cases, this might prevent an application you use from functioning the way you expect. If there's an application here you know you don't want running, though, go ahead and toggle it off. (And consider uninstalling it altogether.)

Credit: wired.com

Executive Board Minutes

Computer Technology Club, Inc.
Executive Board Minutes
June 9, 2023

Alan Marcus, President, called the meeting to order at 9:00AM. Members in attendance: Jim Trimboli, Bob Kenlay, Don Forgette, Mike Metelits, Bob Leiner, and Alan Marcus.

The Secretary’s report was read by Bob Kenlay. No corrections or additions necessary.

Jim Trimboli then read the current Treasurer's report. The current balance is $1287.85.

Future meeting topics:

Jun 21 - Hacking

Jul 19 - My Favorite Free Computer Programs by Alan Marcus

Aug 16 - Review of Window 11 by Alan Marcus

Jim Trimboli will re-check with the Bike shop to make a presentation on electric bikes.

A discussion took place on “AI” to be a possible future meeting topic. No decision was made at this time.

The meeting adjourned at 9:45AM.

Respectfully submitted,
Bob Kenlay, Secretary

Recover Deleted Messages On Your iPhone

Apple Bytes: 

We’ve all been there, accidentally deleting files we didn’t mean to erase. In almost every case, there are ways to recover that lost data. When it comes to the iPhone, Apple built features into iOS features that let you recover deleted messages, voicemails, photos, or iCloud Drive files.

How to delete messages on iPhone

Before explaining how to recover deleted messages on iPhone, let's review the deletion process. If you’re just learning how to manage the iPhone and iOS, you should be aware of these gestures for a few simple reasons.

It’s important to avoid unintentionally deleting a message in the first place. That way, you won’t worry about recovering it. But, you also need to realize that you've deleted the message. This will increase your chances of recovering an accidentally deleted iPhone message.

You can do one of two things to delete an SMS or iMessage thread from the Messages app on iPhone. Tap on a message and slide your finger to the left. Either tap the Trash icon when it shows up, or keep swiping to the left to delete the message.

The other option is pressing and holding your finger on a message thread. Then select the Delete option. As you can see, the accidental swipe to the left might lead to unintentional message deletion. Or you might swipe on the wrong message to delete.

Also, you can delete independent messages from a chat. To do it, go into a conversation, press and hold anywhere on the screen, and choose the More option. Then manually select the message to delete. However, you can accidentally select more messages than you intended using this deletion process.

How to recover deleted messages on iPhone

It’s important to realize you’ve accidentally deleted an iPhone message as soon as it happens. That’s because iOS doesn’t remove it completely from the iPhone storage. Instead, it places the message in a Trash folder, giving you 30 days to recover it.

The sooner you realize you’ve deleted the message, the better. You’ll be able to recover the deleted message following these steps:

Load the Messages app
Tap the Edit button
Select the Show Recently Deleted
Select the messages you want to recover
Tap the Recover button to retrieve the deleted iPhone message

Conversely, you can use this procedure to delete text messages from your iPhone permanently. Similar methods are available for voicemails, photos and videos, and iCloud files.

Don’t forget about iPhone backups

The best way to save messages is by backing up the iPhone. Frequent backups will increase the chances of recovering accidentally deleted messages from the iPhone. Especially if you’ve exceeded that 30-day limit mentioned above.

But even with frequent iPhone backups, you need to ensure you have enough storage to save the different backups. You’ll have to hunt for older backups that still contain the message data you deleted. Or that you have the messages still in the trash files so you can recover them.

The obvious downside of this avenue is that you’ll have to go through a restore process, which could lead to additional data loss. You’d be restoring the entire iOS installation on iPhone, not just the Messages app. The older the backup you restore, the more recent data you’ll lose from other apps.

Credit: bgr.com