IMac froze, rebooted but finder stuck in crash loop...

Question

I have an iMac 2007 running Mavericks. Recently it has started occasionally freezing where my mouse still moves around the screen but everything on the desktop is completely frozen. After holding the on/off switch to reboot it usually comes back on and opens the folders/programs that were already in use and all is well.
However, today was different....it froze while I was using Safari....so I held the on/off switch as usual to reboot and the usual pop-ups appeared, asking me to re-open programs etc. However, since then I can't get finder to open...I have a constant flashing message saying "Last time you opened finder, it unexpectedly quit while re-opening windows. do you want to try to re-open windows again. - It gives 2 options 'don't reopen and re-open'....but the box is continually flashing very second as though it is stuck in a loop....doesn't matter what I try to press, it does the same thing over and over. It means I can access anything on my dock but cannot see my desktop files or any other files on the hard drive. I haven't done a time machine backup for a long time so wary of my next move. Ironically, I just bought a new drive for time machine and this happened before I got the chance to do the backup!!! Typical.
Other useful info may be that I think I only have around 3gb of free memory space on my hard drive right now.
I am on version 10.9.4 of Mavericks and there is a software update available.....should I try to do the software update to see if it irons this problem out or is there anyway I can backup my hard drive first or any other way of accessing my hard drive/desktop files before I do anything?
I have seen this problem related to Google Drive before but I don't use that...unless it is installed somewhere on my system without me knowing and still causing the problem?
Any help greatly appreciated....
Thanks

Answer 1

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Step 1
For this step, the title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select
          SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
          View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen.
In the top right corner of the Console window, there's a search box labeled Filter. Initially the words "String Matching" are shown in that box. Enter the name of the crashed application or process. For example, if iTunes crashed, you would enter "iTunes" (without the quotes.)
Each message in the log begins with the date and time when it was entered. Select the messages from the time of the last crash, if any. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
☞ The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.
Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
☞ Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.
Step 2
In the Console window, select
          DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION ▹ User Diagnostic Reports
(not Diagnostic and Usage Messages) from the log list on the left. There is a disclosure triangle to the left of the list item. If the triangle is pointing to the right, click it so that it points down. You'll see a list of crash reports. The name of each report starts with the name of the process, and ends with ".crash". Select the most recent report related to the process in question. The contents of the report will appear on the right. Use copy and paste topost the entire contents—the text, not a screenshot.
I know the report is long, maybe several hundred lines. Please post all of it anyway.
If you don't see any reports listed, but you know there was a crash, you may have chosen Diagnostic and Usage Messages from the log list. Choose DIAGNOSTIC AND USAGE INFORMATION instead.
In the interest of privacy, I suggest that, before posting, you edit out the “Anonymous UUID,” a long string of letters, numbers, and dashes in the header of the report, if it’s present (it may not be.)
Please don’t post other kinds of diagnostic report—they're very long and rarely helpful.