Can't open any apps that are not already running

macOS background process (probably launchservicesd or WindowServer) getting stuck when spawning new app instances. Since it happens every few days and clears with a reboot, something is likely exhausting file descriptors or hitting a sandbox permission bug.

You can check for these things, disable or temporarily uninstall Homebridge and Adobe CCXProcess (both unsigned and persistent launch agents), and test for a few days. You can also run sudo lsof | wc -l when the issue occurs, if that number’s abnormally high, a runaway process is leaking file handles.

If that’s the case, restarting launchservicesd via sudo launchctl kickstart -k system/com.apple.coreservices.launchservicesd might bring it back without a full reboot.

Also worth testing in a fresh user account to confirm it’s not user-level agents causing it.

Please download and run (free) EtreCheck, and share the results to the clipboard. Then open a new reply here, and press the Additional Text button that looks like a printed page, and paste and post the hardware and software configuration report here. From that, we can get a little more detail about what is installed and what is running here.

You have CleanMyMac. It is infamous for corrupting the system and sometimes making a backup, a clean install and carefully restoring only user data files must be done to fix the damage it has done.

Chrome background processes are also resource hogs and personally I'd use other browser like Safari, Brave or Firefox instead. The following page describes how to completely uninstall Chrome.

https://chromeisbad.com

You may also get rid of all the Commercial VPNs that are installed

They may not be what one believes they are doing for the computer and what they actually are doing behind the scenes 

They may also reduce your Internet Speeds by upwards of 30% 

https://gist.github.com/joepie91/5a9909939e6ce7d09e29

VPN: What you need to know - Apple Community

1 - com.alohabrowser.alohabrowser.vpnhelper - version 3.0.0.0 (Aloha Mobile Ltd. - installed 2024-08-13)

System Extensions:

2 - AdBlockVPNMacOSProvider - version 2.1.11 (App Store - installed 2025-07-17)

  Kernel Extensions:

3 -   /Applications/ExpressVPN.app

 I also see that the Famous Disk Cleaner was once installed, though do not see traces of other appear in the report

2025-09-12 CleanMyMac (5.2.4) - App Store

CleanMyMac , aka “ BrickMyMac “

Actions have consequences, which in turn have repercussions. These repercussions from CleanMyMac, may not always appear immediately, but when they do, they are often the least expected.

Matti Haveri wrote:

You have CleanMyMac. It is infamous for corrupting the system and sometimes making a backup, a clean install and carefully restoring only user data files must be done to fix the damage it has done.

Chrome background processes are also resource hogs and personally I'd use other browser like Safari, Brave or Firefox instead. The following page describes how to completely uninstall Chrome.

https://chromeisbad.com

+ + 1 👍

Before one may ask why CleanMyMac was made available from the Apple Apps Store

2025-09-12 CleanMyMac (5.2.4) - App Store

Certain Applications, like CMM, maybe available on the Apple Apps Store - this only means the Developer is prepared to pay Apple a percentage on each sale. 

What the Application may do to the computer is up to the User to check this out before purchase

To put the Third Party Disk Cleaner / Optimizer in context and the damages it may have or has already done.

This type of applications can or will Muck Up your User Account ( mount point /System/Volume/Data) of this machine.

It does not touch the Operating System itself unless you consider your User Account ( mount point /System/Volume/ Data ) as part of the Operating System.

The Operating System is hosed