App Fixer
1.7Remove prefs and other settings for misbehaving apps.
Overview
App Fixer removes user preferences and saved application states for apps on your system, also resets Safari to aid recovery from adware hijacks and scams.
Does your favorite app keep crashing on launch, or quit unexpectedly during normal operation? Got an app that keeps starting up with unwanted settings or preferences that you can't seem to shake? App Fixer quickly gets apps like Photoshop, Safari or any other app that's misbehaving back up and running again when their preferences or window states have become corrupted or you just want to return to a defaults launch. App Fixer removes user preference plist files and saved application state files quickly and easily. No more hunting around in your User Library trying to figure out which ones to delete. Just choose the app and click 'Fix!'
What's new in App Fixer
- Improved: code-signing requirements are now checked on every launch to harden the app against the possibility of post-Gatekeeper hijacking.
App Fixer Screenshots
Install with MacUpdate
3 App Fixer Reviews
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As with many OS X features, like LaunchPad, Apple never really finished it. They
failed to provide a way for users to organize and manage it, just as they did with LaunchPad and many other half-backed "good" ideas.
There is an option in the General system preferences to close windows when an application quits that is supposed to prevent them opening again when you restart. But to make it actually work you will need to use the check box in the Shut Down modal dialog to tell the system not to open windows when you restart the computer. If you leave it unchecked it will persist thereafter, until you change it.
Preventing applications from resuming is trickier. There are a number of fancy ways to do it with Terminal, but the easiest way, in my opinion, is to delete the contents of any application state folder and then lock the folder.
To find these folders, hold down the Option key as you click the Go menu in the Finder. The usually invisible user library folder will then be available; click the icon to open it and locate the Saved Application States folder. Inside this you will find a com.applicationname.savedState item for every app that was ever open when you shut down your Mac. Delete the contents of any folder you want to prevent from resuming and then use the Get Info window to lock the folder. This will prevent the system from recreating any saved states for that app.
Another way to accomplish this, of course, is simply to shut down all your apps before shutting down the computer. The Resume feature is intended to eliminate the need to shut down apps. Unfortunately, Apple doesn't think we need a way to customize this behavior for our own workflow. As with many things Apple these days, one size is supposed to fit all.
By the way, if you follow the procedure to prevent Resume from working, it's still safe to shut down without quitting your apps first – though if you have any open documents that you have not saved, the process will be interrupted with prompts asking if you want to save them. So it's still a good idea to close all your document windows before shutting down.
I apologize if this response is overkill. But I thought your question deserved a serious answer, since you are probably not the only one wondering what Resume is all about.