Login Items

This version of this page is valid for OS X 10.0, 10.1 and 10.2. If you are on OS X 10.3 or later, please visit the 10.3 login items page instead!

Many of Stick Software's products, such as Measles, Eyeballs and BigFoot, work well as "login items". Login items are applications (and other documents) that your computer opens automatically for you every time you log in to your user account. If your computer is set up to have only one user account, then your login items will be opened whenever you start up your computer. Typically, login items are things you want to run all the time, whenever you're using your computer.

These instructions assume that you have already installed the application you have downloaded, by decompressing it, opening the disk image file, and copying the application inside to your local hard drive. If you have not done this (or if you're not sure), please read our help file on disk images first.

System Preferences

Login items are configured in System Preferences. System Preferences is a very useful application provided by Apple as part of your installation of OS X. It can be found inside the /Applications/Utilities/ folder. Double-click it to run it. A window will appear, filled with icons with titles beneath them. Find the "Login Items" icon in the "Personal" section, or alternatively, select "Login Items" from the View menu:

Once you have selected the Login Items view, the window will change to display the preferences for that view. It should look something like this (although the window may have a toolbar at the top, depending upon your configuration of System Preferences):

There may be no items in your login items list, but you should feel free to add applications that you find useful enough to wish them to always be running, such as TextEdit or Preview.

Adding items

You can add a login item in two ways. One is to click on the "Add..." button and select the application you wish to add in the sheet that appears. The other is to drag the application that you wish to add into the login items table:

Shown here is a drag that will add Measles to the user's login items. The Measles application is being dragged in at the lower right of the window.

Removing items

To remove an items from your login items, simply select it by clicking on its entry in the table, and then click the "remove" button. It will be removed immediately.

Further questions

If you have further questions about System Preferences or the Login Items panel, you might try reading Apple's documentation, available through the Help menu in System Preferences. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you have, comments on this page, or other issues, by sending email to our support email address. Happy downloading!