Several mac computers have started randomly crashing in the same timeframe

Uncruzimatic wrote:

<Etrecheck report macbook.log>

OK, thank you. Here's the Etrecheck report for the macbook. I'll generate one for the imac soon.

There are several issues here.

Most important is that this machine is critically low on disk space. That need immediate attention.

I'm also seeing several things that could be causing serious problems, including remnants of Sophos, and multiple VPN clients.

If you're using a VPN to access the Internet, get rid of it.

The only legitimate use for a VPN is to access resources on a secure private network such as your employer or school. VPNs do nothing to protect your privacy or secure your data when accessing resources on the Internet.

As it seems the root of the crashes may be network related, the VPN clients may well be at fault.

Uncruzimatic wrote:

<Etrecheck report imac.log>

And here's the Etrecheck report for the imac

Right off the bat... The hard drive is failing.

That and AVG Antivirus is doing nothing other than to consume resources and cause problems. Dump it.

If you boot either of these Macs in Safe Mode, do these kernel panics continue? If they don't chances are pretty good that these panics are being caused by third-party kernel extensions (kexts).

It shouldn't be difficult to run your Mac's in Safe Mode for extended periods of time. This way you can verify whether third-party kexts as the cause.

Usual test would be to free up storage space, and to remove the unnecessary Nord and the unnecessary anti-malware app, and see if the issues resolve. And centrally, to get the hard drive replaced, or get the Mac replaced.

Given the unnecessary coffee shop VPN (and metadata-collection tool), and given the unnecessary second anti-malware app, I’d suggest you request IT deal with this instability and the hardware repairs, too. I would wonder about the polices that IT is operating with here, too. Your IT organization might prefer employees to use a PC, so get the PC they want you to have, and stop trying to be efficient and productive. Your other option is to call down the attention of management on IT, of course.

You can force a firmware update on that router too, but the problems here likely involve the add-ons and the failing storage, and less not the Wi-Fi. To update Wi-Fi firmware:

1. In Safari, open: https://192.168.1.1/#/advanced/fwupgrade
2. Log into the “admin” account, with the password printed on the router.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions

But this is likely the (unnecessary) add-on security tools, and/or a dodgy hard disk.

Given the dodgy hard disk, you will absolutely want current and complete backups too, lest all your data go *poof*. And the data is on the path to *poof* per the diagnostics.

FWIW, I have been involved with corporate IT for a number of years. In my experience, most IT departments either completely ban the use of personal computers, or strictly "cripple" them to be basically useless. Instead, they push you to using a corporate "approved" desktop/laptop for remote work. To their credit, keeping the corporate network free of adware/malware/viruses, etc. is a never ending task that is only more difficult when they allow for personal computer use.

At this point, if available to you, I suggest you have your company's IT department equip you with an approved company device when working remotely for them and leave your personal devices "de-crippled" for personal use.

Uncruzimatic wrote:

AVG Antivirus and VPN are required by an employer.

Interesting as NordVPN is a consumer-grade VPN that is used primarily to access sites over the Internet, and not to a VPN server at a work location. I would think they would require a specific VPN client that they control to access their internal network. Is that what the Cisco socket filter is used for?

As mentioned the VPN and AV apps you have installed are doing NOTHING to protect the Mac. Your employer's tech team sounds like they may not know about Apple security. While it is true that if a PC virus is sent to your computer it will not affect the Mac if you forward that virus to an unprotected PC that PC will be affected.

If your employer insists that you continue using the VPN and AV apps then please know there is not a great deal we can do and you will be living with a slow, unstable and buggy Mac as these apps tend to modify Mac OS and in return do absolutely nothing in return.