Your Mac has plenty of action going on behind the scenes. One of them is the list of login items; those apps that startup when your Mac starts up.
To check what starts up on your Mac, open System Preferences, select Users & Groups, then click the Login Items button. That gets you a list of apps or utilities that start up when your Mac starts up.
Click the plus + sign and add other apps to the startup list. Or, use Startupizer and gain even more control of what apps start up, when they startup, and under what conditions they startup.
This nifty app gives you more granular control of each app that starts up, as well as details about the app.
You can even set the time of day for the app to startup, or have it startup at a different time from a different location (if you’re on the road using a MacBook, for example).
Personally, I like the delay launch feature. Set specific apps to launch x-number of minutes after startup, or at a specific time during the day; even on specific days of the week.
Startupizer even gives you uber geek controls to manage apps during the startup process by assigning modifier keys and certain actions to each apps. Press a key, this happens. Don’t press the key, something different happens during the startup process.
It even knows whether your Mac is connected to a power source or on battery, and can launch apps accordingly. You can also setup specific app launches when your Mac wakes from sleep.
This is very handy, not expensive, but a little geeky to figure out all the options.