Like any operating system, Linux has ways for users to make certain programs run any time they login to their computer. I personally do not like to do this, but there are many people who do.

I haven’t played around with the KDE desktop very much, but in Gnome it is very simple to do this. Simply open the programs that you want to have open when you log in to your computer and use the “gnome-session-save” command. This will save your session as it is at the time the command is run and each time you login it will open the same way.

If at some point in time you decide that you do not want to have any windows open when you login, simply create a launcher on your desktop. Close all your programs. Any programs you have running when you run the launcher will be opened next time you login.

You can name the launcher anything you want and for command type “gnome-session-save”. Double-click on the launcher and then go ahead and delete it. Next time you login, you will have no programs that automatically open up, unless you had some running when you double-clicked on the launcher and ran the save command.