Apps are missing from system settings and finder will not close, 2025 M4, sequoia 15.7.3

[1adrift]

This is a new macbook pro M4, 24g ram, 500 gig drive. Recently many of the apps in system settings are gone like, safari, firefox, facebook, pages, maps, etc. My guess is at least half the apps are missing. Also, when I open finder I can't close it. I have to shutdown the computer and then restart it to get rid of the finder.

Troubleshooting problems in a Mac is not my strong point. So far I'm quite disappointed with this mac. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Gregg2]

To be clear, are you talking about opening a Finder Window that show folders and/or files? Is that what you can't close? If so, I bet one thing you haven't tried is Command-W. Not that you don't want it to work with a click, but does this alternative do it?