'finder' window disappears immediately

Question

Upgraded to Mavericks and my wife's account is now useless as the finder window that opens during 'save as' or any other operation to access files from within an application -- Photoshop, Firefox, Pages, Safari.. opens and then immediately closes.
I created a new account and everything is fine.
I deleted her account and recreated it - reconnecting to her files and the problem still persists.
Anyone have any ideas what is happening? 
We've been Mac users for several decades and have never seen anything like this before.

Answer 1

Hardware Information:
iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)
iMac - model: iMac11,1
1 2.66 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4 cores
12 GB RAM
Video Information:
ATI Radeon HD 4850 - VRAM: 512 MB
Audio Plug-ins:
BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0
AirPlay: Version: 1.9
AppleAVBAudio: Version: 2.0.0
iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3
Startup Items:
BroadbandOptimizer - Path: /Library/StartupItems/BroadbandOptimizer
Cocktail - Path: /Library/StartupItems/Cocktail
Executor - Path: /Library/StartupItems/Executor
FxLicenseManager - Path: /Library/StartupItems/FxLicenseManager
HDDFanControlDaemon - Path: /Library/StartupItems/HDDFanControlDaemon
ProTec6 - Path: /Library/StartupItems/ProTec6
ProTec6b - Path: /Library/StartupItems/ProTec6b
ProTecV - Path: /Library/StartupItems/ProTecV
QuickBackStartupItem - Path: /Library/StartupItems/QuickBackStartupItem
RetroRun - Path: /Library/StartupItems/RetroRun
RetroRunHelper - Path: /Library/StartupItems/RetroRunHelper
Virex - Path: /Library/StartupItems/Virex
System Software:
OS X 10.9 (13A603) - Uptime: 1 day 8:11:22
Disk Information:
APPLE HDD HUA722010CLA330 disk0 : (1 TB)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /: 999.35 GB (291.96 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5680H 
USB Information:
Tablet PTK-640
Canon MP990 series
Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
FireWire Information:
OWC OEM ATA Device 00 800mbit - 800mbit max
EFI (disk4s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
Time Machine Backup 2TB (disk4s2) /Volumes/Time Machine Backup 2TB: 2 TB (101.09 GB free)
Newer Technology OEM SATA Device 00 400mbit - 400mbit max
EFI (disk3s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
Time Machine Backup (disk3s2) /Volumes/Time Machine Backup: 1.5 TB (327.81 GB free)
OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual 800mbit - 800mbit max
EFI (disk2s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
disk2s2 (disk2s2) <not mounted>: 3 TB
Boot OSX (disk2s3) <not mounted>: 134.2 MB
disk2s5 (disk2s5) <not mounted>: 2.3 MB
EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
disk1s2 (disk1s2) <not mounted>: 3 TB
Boot OSX (disk1s3) <not mounted>: 134.2 MB
disk1s5 (disk1s5) <not mounted>: 2.3 MB
Thunderbolt Information:
Kernel Extensions:
com.softraid.driver.SoftRAID (4.5.3)
com.AmbrosiaSW.AudioSupport (4.1.2)
com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftKeyboard (7.1)
com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftKeyboardBluetooth (7.1)
com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftMouse (7.1)
com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftMouseBluetooth (7.1)
Problem System Launch Daemons:
Problem System Launch Agents:
Launch Daemons:
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist
[loaded] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist
[loaded] com.ambrosiasw.ambrosiaaudiosupporthelper.daemon.plist
[loaded] com.klieme.TimeMachineScheduler.plist
[loaded] com.prosofteng.DriveGenius.locum.plist
[loaded] com.softraid.softraidd.plist
[loaded] com.timesoftware.timemachineeditor.backupd-auto.plist
Launch Agents:
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist
[loaded] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist
[loaded] com.adobe.CS4ServiceManager.plist
[not loaded] com.maintain.PurgeInactiveMemory.plist
[loaded] com.maintain.SystemEvents.plist
[loaded] com.softraid.SoftRAID_Monitor.plist
[loaded] com.wacom.pentablet.plist
[loaded] com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist
User Launch Agents:
[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist
[failed] com.google.keystone.agent.plist
User Login Items:
iTunesHelper
Messages
AdobeResourceSynchronizer
Dropbox
3rd Party Preference Panes:
Flash Player
Flip4Mac WMV
HDD Fan Control
Java
Microsoft Keyboard
Microsoft Mouse
MouseLocator
PenTablet
WacomTablet
Internet Plug-ins:
AdobeAAMDetect.plugin
AdobeExManDetect.plugin
AdobePDFViewer.plugin
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin
Default Browser.plugin
DirectorShockwave.plugin
Flash Player.plugin
FlashPlayer-10.6.plugin
Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin
Google Earth Web Plug-in.plugin
iPhotoPhotocast.plugin
JavaAppletPlugin.plugin
QuickTime Plugin.plugin
RealPlayer Plugin.plugin
Silverlight.plugin
WacomNetscape.plugin
WacomTabletPlugin.plugin
Yahoo! Installer 3.plugin
User Internet Plug-ins:
fbplugin_1_0_3.plugin
WebEx.plugin
Bad Fonts:
None
Top Processes by CPU:
    34% firefox
    7% WindowServer
    3% mds
    2% WacomTabletDriver
    1% EtreCheck
    0% fontd
    0% Creative Cloud
    0% plugin-container
    0% HDDFanControlDaemon
    0% AdobeCrashDaemon
Top Processes by Memory:
2.06 GB  Adobe Photoshop CC
1.13 GB  firefox
946 MB   Aperture
246 MB   WindowServer
209 MB   Finder
172 MB   mds_stores
172 MB  com.apple.IconServicesAgent
147 MB  softwareupdated
111 MB   mds
98 MB    Messages
Virtual Memory Statistics:
1.54 GB  Free RAM
5.47 GB  Active RAM
3.92 GB  Inactive RAM
1.06 GB  Wired RAM
2.99 GB  Page-ins
37 MB    Page-outs