I’d get an immediate and complete backup, before attempting removal, repair, remediation, or whatever. Your hard disk may be or failing, and the more I/O you toss at a failing hard disk, the less the data you might get back.
Use what’s left of this hard disk wisely, if it’s failing.
Get a backup.
The app crashes imply a low-level file or volume corruption, fallout from having anti-malware installed, or a failing hard disk drive.
The I/O activity could be the anti-malware or other bits—apps such as Oracle Java and Adobe Flash can both generate lots of I/O—or it can be attempts to read an increasingly-failing storage device.
I’d then preemptively replace this hard disk.
If you want to try to keep this Mac for a few more years, install an SSD, and maybe more memory. An SSD will be a big performance boost. More memory will help, too.
Then either restore your most recent (complete, non-corrupt) backup, or install macOS and migrate in your apps and data.
I’d also consider removing Oracle Java, and Adobe Flash, unless you specifically need those. Check the commercial-use licensing on current versions of Java with the Oracle JVM, too Adobe Flash has a long history of security problems, and the whole package is being deprecated.