Finder not responding even after relaunch, restart, system reset

Hiya,

So I'm running a 2015 Macbook Air on OS 10.14.4 and now 10.14.5, and essentially, finder is not responding, no matter what I do. I can't even post a screenshot here, because screenshots won't save without finder.

What happens:

1. Click finder
2. wait, spinning beach ball icon, laptop slows to a grind
3. right click finder icon, it says "application not responding"
4. click relaunch, begin from 1

What I have tried:

1. relaunching finder
2. restarting laptop
3. fully turning laptop on and off again
4. leaving laptop off for 5 days
5. system update (to 10.14.5)
6. factory reset

Nothing has fixed the problem. Without finder, the laptop basically ceases to function.