please help disabling startup items

[jive turkey]

Something that runs at startup is causing me some problems. When I safe boot everything runs fine. I have gone through the account-->login items and deleted everyone of them. I also went into library-->startup items and deleted what was there.

Still, when I boot regularly instead of safe boot, I have some problems. I took a screen shot of what is running after a normal boot and what is running after safe boot, and there are three tasks that are starting at normal login that do not start in safe boot. So other than the account preferences and startupItems folder, where else are startup items located?

If it helps, the three processes are:
1. Growl helper
2. HP Event Handler
3. iStatMenu proces

Thanks again for your time in helping a confused man learn his Mac.

 

[hughvane]

Try this:
1. Finder > Cmd-F, type in Growl in the search field, press Return
Now anything named Growl should show - unless it's been made invisible. Once selected in the seach window, items can be sent to Trash with Cmd-Delete. [Spotlight does similar to Cmd-F but I prefer using the Finder.]

2. The HP will I think be tucked away in MacHD > System > Library.
Use the Cmd-F process again, and remove the HP event handler.

3. iStatMenu is doing much the same task as Growl, so you can get rid of it using the same process.

If you cannot locate the 'offending' files, it probably means they've been made invisible, possibly locked. Post back if so.

 

[sickmacdoc]

The Growl .dmg download has an uninstaller script in it that will take care of that process, and iStat menus has uninstaller functionality built into its System Preferences pane which should take care of that one too. To quote from the iStat menus help from the website:

Uninstalling iStat menus
Simply open up the iStat menus pref pane in System Preferences, click on the General section, then click uninstall to launch the uninstaller.

There are a lot of results concerning the HP installer Event Handler removal which can be found after doing a Google search for "remove hp event handler mac" but I didn't dig around long enough to dig up the specifics.

 

[jive turkey]

Thanks, I tried locating them using Spotlight and in Finder, and they do not show. To test, I tried searching for the items I deleted from the account-->login that I knew existed in Finder (like iTuneshelper), and couldn't find those, either. I'm in Finder now looking at some files and typing in exactly what they are named, and the search in Finder isn't finding them. Same thing with folders with 'login' in the name. Apparently I have managed to hide all sorts of files and folders from being searched for.

I have killed these apps using Activity Monitor and in Terminal, and they immediately restart themselves. I can stop Growl from the preference pane, but it starts back again. I can uninstall Growl and iStat if need be, to see if they are the culprit. I'm browsing in your suggest location for the HP stuff now.

Thanks again for your kind response.

 

[jive turkey]

Thanks for the suggestion, sickmacdoc. I googled HP Event Handler earlier and everything I read about it indicates that removing it involves removing the printer drivers/software. So what I am trying to do is keep this stuff from running at startup to see if it is the problem. I don't want to delete the Event Handler completely, because it seems to my untrained understanding (admittedly I ain't too bright) that it may keep me from printing, so I would like to find a way to disable it without uninstalling, until I can find out if it is indeed the culprit.

I hope that makes sense, and thanks again for your kind help.

 

[jive turkey]

Apparently it is none of these things at the root of my problems. I uninstalled Growl, iStatMenus, and I deleted the HP stuff, and my computer still doesn't work right unless I safe boot. Something is running after a normal boot that doesn't run at a safe boot. Whatever that may be, it is isn't showing in Activity Monitor.

Thanks anyone for your help.

 

[hughvane]

Right, time to check Activity Monitor (.app), to find out what's happening, and where what's happening may be found. From what you've posted in replies, I suspect a reinstall of the OS may in the end be necessary.

 

[jive turkey]

Just to update, I think I finally found the cause of my problems. A few months ago I tried a demo version of Little Snitch. Somehow I guess it didn't uninstall fully, and the Mac was trying to launch some LS components every 10 seconds, even though the components did not exist on my system. I guess it was still noted in the login file, so the OS would try to launch them, they couldn't be found, the Mac would try again, and this went on forever. I don't know why this caused system problems, but it did.

I was able to download the LS installer and uninstall the program again, and it seems to have taken. So far, so good! Thanks again to you guys for taking the time to talk me through some stuff.

 

[macrlz9]

I was searching for my issue and found this thread. My MacBook will only sleep when I manually put it to sleep or close the lid. Even if I have no applications open. I do have the HP Event Handler in my activity monitor. how can I remove this? Also will I still be able to print if I do?

Can I find a log that I can look at to see what is preventing my computer from sleeping? How can I know? Thanks in advance.