If you live in a house with a family, starting up your Mac can be a problem late at night. That startup chime can really wake people from their slumber. You can disable the sound though through the use of third party software.

1. Download and install StartupSound.prefPane.

2. Open System Preferences.

3. Click Startup Sound.

4. Click the Mute checkbox to turn off the startup sound completely. You can also just lower the volume if you wish.

See also: Control the startup chime’s volume