Catalina problems

[Andrew Brehm]

I installed Catalina on my 2012 Mac mini.

Apparently Catalina has disabled the startup chime and has decided to relaunch all applications that were running when I shut it down. The result of the latter is that I know have to wait a few minutes (the computer is not very fast) for Catalina to start a few programs I don't need and open browser tabs I don't want.

Is there a way to disable these "features"?

 

[Just_Me_D]

That usually happens when you shut down the computer without closing the open apps. I'm not aware of a way to disable that feature. As for as apps starting at startup, you can disable them by going to  → System Preferences → Users & Groups → Login Items.

 

[EdwinG]

Hello @Andrew Brehm,

These settings should influence how app restoration works upon reboot.

First, in System Preferences, under General, the Close windows when quitting an app will prevent (as the subtext says) an app from restoring its open windows.

Also, in the Power Off, Reboot and Log Out dialog boxes contain a checkbox to prevent apps to be restored on reboot. Normally, the system will remember this setting across power state changes.

 

[Andrew Brehm]

I have checked the "Close windows when quitting an app" and I did uncheck "Reopen windows when logging back in" (it remains unchecked). But Mac OS appears to ignore those settings.

Whenever I reboot (sudo reboot), it does start all applications again (including the one that was hanging and was the reason for my reboot) and it even restores them, so it ignores both settings, reliably.

I remember in 1996 when OS/2 Warp 4 came out, it had a feature like that and it was just as annoying. I rebooted usually because of an application hanging and after the reboot the same application was started again and hung again. But in OS/2 that could easily (if a bit undocumentedly) be avoided by adding "restartobjects startupfoldersonly" to the config.sys file.

 

[Andrew Brehm]

That usually happens when you shut down the computer without closing the open apps. I'm not aware of a way to disable that feature. As for as apps starting at startup, you can disable them by going to  → System Preferences → Users & Groups → Login Items.

I would call it a bug, not a feature.

It's terrible. I only upgraded to Catalina this week and not only did I lose 32 bit compatibility but I cannot restart my computer any more to free memory.

 

[Just_Me_D]

3242120[/URL]]I would call it a bug, not a feature.

It's terrible. I only upgraded to Catalina this week and not only did I lose 32 bit compatibility but I cannot restart my computer any more to free memory.

With macOS Catalina, Apple ended 32-but compatibility for the Mac. As for not being able to restart your computer, do you have a Time Machine backup that you can revert to?

 

[dmoskaluk]

Even the 'latest & greatest - Big Sur- tends to ignore some checked boxes, as did it's predecessors. I wound up skipping Catalina altogether but that's for another thread. I went from Mojave to Big Sur and on both have always had checked in System Preferences -Energy Saver- NOT to restart automatically after a power failure. We have frequent outages and it's always my drill in a blackout to unplug all electronics via the voltage regulator units I keep 'upstream' of my surge projectors. ( X2 - separate rooms) Once power is restored, I wait for stability ( min 5 minutes + steady acceptable voltage 'green light' ) before starting to reinstate first the surge bars with connected devices ( TV, cable box etc in one room- computer & router & printer on my desk) and guess what, there's the  logo & progress bar on the iMac. That's pretty much always been the case . I've never used any 'uninterruptable power supply' so when the power drops out, it's really out.

 

[dmoskaluk]

Maybe the iMac heard my grumbling. - just had a 30 min total blackout ( likely road construction crew doing utility conduit work). Did the drill...... Power came back on fortunately without hours long wait..... and when power restored to iMac - 'nothing happened' - until I tapped the back of screen button. That's a first. Possibly the overnight OS update it did Thursday night ( night before last)

 

[Lee_Bo]

With macOS Catalina, Apple ended 32-but compatibility for the Mac. As for not being able to restart your computer, do you have a Time Machine backup that you can revert to?

Yeah, when I read that before updating I went back and made sure I didn't have any 32-bit apps installed or running.

 

[Just_Me_D]

Yeah, when I read that before updating I went back and made sure I didn't have any 32-bit apps installed or running.

Same here. Still, all of the apps I use have all been updated for 64-bit computing.

 

[Andrew Brehm]

With macOS Catalina, Apple ended 32-but compatibility for the Mac. As for not being able to restart your computer, do you have a Time Machine backup that you can revert to?

I don't mind the loss of 32 bit compatibility (although I think it would have a big impact on many) since I use the Mac only for a few programs that are reasonably new.

As for the restart issue, the problem, as I said, is that it keeps restarting all sorts of programs I had run before the reboot which makes reboots less useful. Usually, when I had a problem with a very slow computer or a frozen computer, I could reboot and start fresh. With Catalina it's a guessing game whether it will restart all programs and run back into the very issue I restarted it for.

I have current backups but restoring a backup won't change this.

 

[Andrew Brehm]

@dmoskaluk

Thanks. Your reply re-assured me. This is apparently a common issue.

I agree with your idea of waiting a few minutes after power is back.