The Cluttered Desktop Return
When you restart your Mac—perhaps to install a system update or simply to clear out the RAM after a heavy week of work—you usually expect to be greeted by a clean, empty desktop. However, macOS features a “Resume” function that remembers exactly what you were doing before the restart. If you had five Safari windows, Photoshop, and Spotify open when you clicked “Restart,” macOS will violently launch all of those applications the moment you log back in, causing your Mac’s fans to spin up and completely ruining the feeling of a fresh start.
How to Disable App Resuming on Restart
You can tell macOS to ignore its saved state and give you a completely blank slate every single time you reboot.
1. Click the Apple logo () in the top-left corner of your menu bar.
2. Select Restart… (or Shut Down…).
3. A confirmation dialog box will appear in the center of your screen, asking if you are sure you want to proceed.
4. Look closely at this dialog box. You will see a small checkbox labelled Reopen windows when logging back in.
5. Untick this checkbox.
6. Click the blue Restart button.
The System-Wide Default Fix
Unticking that box works for that specific reboot, but macOS might annoyingly re-tick the box the next time you restart. If you want to permanently disable this behavior so apps never remember their previous state (even if you accidentally leave the box ticked), you must go to System Settings.
1. Open System Settings (or System Preferences).
2. Navigate to Desktop & Dock (or General in older versions).
3. Look for the toggle switch labelled Close windows when quitting an application.
4. Turn this setting On.
Now, when you quit an app or reboot your machine, the saved state is permanently destroyed, guaranteeing a fresh workspace.