How To Disable Lion's 'Resume' Feature - MacRumors
Skip to Content

How To Disable Lion's 'Resume' Feature

by

lionrestore
Resume is one of the main new features to OS X Lion, one taken directly from iOS:

Now apps you close will reopen right where you left off, so you never have to start from scratch again. And when you install software updates, you no longer need to save your work, close your apps, and spend valuable time setting everything up again. With Resume, you can restart your Mac and return to what you were doing — with all your apps in the places where you left them.

Now, this feature might be all well and good, but what if you want your Mac to behave like it did in Snow Leopard? Resume can be easily disabled, but the option is fairly hidden.

Head to System Preferences and select the General tab. At the bottom of that page is a checkbox labeled "Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps." If you uncheck that, your apps will continue to behave as they did in Snow Leopard.

Hat tip OS X Daily.

Top Rated Comments

ovrlrd Avatar
198 months ago
This is the best tip and I am surprised it's not mentioned in the article:

Hate the new resume feature and how you end up with a bunch of old windows/tabs open when you launch Safari, QuickTime, or any app that uses Lion's new resume feature?

Well a simple three button keyboard shortcut will save you all the trouble:

⌥ + ⌘ + Q
(thats Option + Command + Q)

Simply press these keys when you want to quit an app and the next time you open it, the last opened windows/tabs will not be resumed and you will start with a fresh app.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
198 months ago


Resume is a really good feature, just not while using Safari.

I hope when you say that you're referring to 'online banking' ;)
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GenesisST Avatar
198 months ago
I hope when you say that you're referring to 'online banking' ;)

There's private browsing for 'online banking', so your wife doesn't your weird tastes in "bank accounts"... :D
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tronic Avatar
198 months ago
I wish you could pick and choose what apps to use this for. There are certain programs I like to start fresh with whenever I close them. Ie firefox, iTunes, Photoshop.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
198 months ago
How is that "fairly hidden"?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
198 months ago
am i the only one that likes this feature?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Dark Cherry Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Reportedly Starts With 256GB of Storage

Thursday September 3, 2026 9:22 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro has double the base storage compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, there will apparently be no further increase this year. Taiwanese research firm TrendForce today again reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models will start with 256GB of storage, like the iPhone 17 Pro models. Minimum storage capacities by model:iPhone 16 Pro: 128GB iPhone 17 Pro: 256GB iPhone 18 Pro...
Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Prices Estimated Ahead of Apple Event Next Week

Thursday September 3, 2026 3:41 am PDT by
Less than a week before Apple debuts new iPhone 18 Pro models, research firm TrendForce has estimated the prices of the devices based on the latest hardware cost environment. TrendForce's price estimates compared to last year's models look like this: Model Starting Price Model Starting Price Change iPhone 17 Pro $1,099 iPhone 18 Pro $...
iPhone Handoff Feature

iOS 27 Introduces New 'iPhone Handoff' Feature

Wednesday September 2, 2026 12:35 pm PDT by
Apple has added a new "iPhone Handoff" feature to iOS 27 that will allow you to switch between two iPhones while using the same phone number on each device. This functionality was briefly mentioned during the WWDC 2026 keynote in June, on a slide that listed hundreds of new features coming in iOS 27 and corresponding software updates, but Apple never shared any further details at the time. ...