QUOTE
items in your account/ login item preferences are user defined
I have recently read that such may not be the case. Apparently, some apps can install items in a users Login Items list. That's one reason MFI suggests checking the list
prior to making a major OS/Security update; there could be a non-compliant item in there that may prevent the usual Restart. See this <
thread>. I have no real knowledge about this but I mentioned also finding a duplicated item in my list. I suspect that most of these 'added' items are actually user-approved when they are first run/installed and the app/installer "asks" if one wants to have the app run on 'start up'. Most of us simply don't put two and two together and therefore don't realize what is actually happening. And, if that item causes problems for the next OS upgrade, we simply don't think to look in the list for culprits. Of course, a 'Safe Boot' will skip most of these things, but that doesn't really prove anything because that's not the way we usually run our Macs.
However, you defined the Login Items list rather exactly and it led me to discover that there actually is a list for "root", just as there would be for every other 'user'. I would suspect that the "root" list would stay more pristine than most 'regular' users list! And it might be a good list to check against