4 ms·

apps in windows are, and have always been, more like this than mac apps. it seems like the worst offenders on mac are ports from / native residents of windows.

apps in windows are, and have always been, more like this than mac apps. it seems like the worst offenders on mac are ports from / native residents of windows. steam does this, for example. it drives me BONKERS. at least on Mac it's kind of rare. on windows, i swear to god every single thing you install does this. razer mouse? better run at startup! weird USB peripheral you use once in a blue moon? better run at startup!

gnicholas 6y ago
Honestly I’m surprised that Apple doesn’t block applications from inserting themselves into a user’s login items after the user has manually removed it. Or maybe only let the application do it by asking the use (and requiring one of the answers to be “no, and never ask again”.
- jbverschoor 6y ago
  Well, you can't really buy Teams from the App Store, now can you? Maybe some day people will understand that this "walled garden" is a good thing
  - alsetmusic 6y ago
    I helped my father install O365 via phone. It was a painful experience (he’s not great with computers). O365 was added to the Mac App Store the following week. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiXt-W7v6XuAhXQGTQIHREPBNUQFjAAegQIBhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fapps.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp-bundle%2Fmicrosoft-365%2Fid1450038993%3Fmt%3D12&usg=AOvVaw1QEtyejdKR0FPuC4EB3Mr0 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...
the_arun 6y ago
I know, this is a crazy design to start an app during startup. They better get user’s consent before user installs the app and provide an option to disable start on startup (login).
csunbird 6y ago
I feel like steam is a good citizen in this regard. I had no problem with it starting at startup/login after I asked it not to do that.
- keeganpoppen 6y ago
  i thought so too, but for some reason on my macbook air it keeps starting at login lol. i wouldn't be surprised if it's PEBKAC, honestly...
lifty 6y ago
This is an abject failure of OS design. If an app is allowed by the OS to insert itself in the startup list without explicit user consent first an foremost I blame the operating system. You can’t trust every app and every developer out there. I would love if there would be a Linux distro out there that would adopt some of the principles and values embodied in iOS, without the draconian Apple walled garden.
- luckman212 6y ago
  I agree: this should be part of any reasonably secure OS. One thing you can do in absence of it is install Patrick Wardle's BlockBlock[0] which adds alerts for this behavior (also open source) [0] https://objective-see.com/products/blockblock.html https://objective-see.com/products/blockblock.html
- tenebrisalietum 6y ago
  Get Sysinternals' Autoruns and simply just run it on a Windows system. There are so many ways executable code can run automatically without you knowing.
- unpixer 6y ago
  Eh, I don't know if you can exclusively blame Apple for this one. I've observed the same behavior in the MATE environmment, both on Fedora and Pop! OS. I'd install Teams, it would autostart on login, I'd remove it from my list of startup items, then the very next time I fired up Teams it would reinsert itself. The only way to disable it was inside Teams' own preference dialog, which I found to be an extremely tone-deaf mechanic.

gnicholas 6y ago

Honestly I’m surprised that Apple doesn’t block applications from inserting themselves into a user’s login items after the user has manually removed it. Or maybe only let the application do it by asking the use (and requiring one of the answers to be “no, and never ask again”.

jbverschoor 6y ago
Well, you can't really buy Teams from the App Store, now can you? Maybe some day people will understand that this "walled garden" is a good thing
- alsetmusic 6y ago
  I helped my father install O365 via phone. It was a painful experience (he’s not great with computers). O365 was added to the Mac App Store the following week. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiXt-W7v6XuAhXQGTQIHREPBNUQFjAAegQIBhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fapps.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp-bundle%2Fmicrosoft-365%2Fid1450038993%3Fmt%3D12&usg=AOvVaw1QEtyejdKR0FPuC4EB3Mr0 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...

the_arun 6y ago

I know, this is a crazy design to start an app during startup. They better get user’s consent before user installs the app and provide an option to disable start on startup (login).

csunbird 6y ago

I feel like steam is a good citizen in this regard. I had no problem with it starting at startup/login after I asked it not to do that.

keeganpoppen 6y ago
i thought so too, but for some reason on my macbook air it keeps starting at login lol. i wouldn't be surprised if it's PEBKAC, honestly...

lifty 6y ago

This is an abject failure of OS design. If an app is allowed by the OS to insert itself in the startup list without explicit user consent first an foremost I blame the operating system. You can’t trust every app and every developer out there. I would love if there would be a Linux distro out there that would adopt some of the principles and values embodied in iOS, without the draconian Apple walled garden.

luckman212 6y ago
I agree: this should be part of any reasonably secure OS. One thing you can do in absence of it is install Patrick Wardle's BlockBlock[0] which adds alerts for this behavior (also open source) [0] https://objective-see.com/products/blockblock.html https://objective-see.com/products/blockblock.html
tenebrisalietum 6y ago
Get Sysinternals' Autoruns and simply just run it on a Windows system. There are so many ways executable code can run automatically without you knowing.
unpixer 6y ago
Eh, I don't know if you can exclusively blame Apple for this one. I've observed the same behavior in the MATE environmment, both on Fedora and Pop! OS. I'd install Teams, it would autostart on login, I'd remove it from my list of startup items, then the very next time I fired up Teams it would reinsert itself. The only way to disable it was inside Teams' own preference dialog, which I found to be an extremely tone-deaf mechanic.