Why does PSE hang when I try to save?

I am running Photoshop Elements 14 on a PC.

For some time now, I have been unable to save photos I am editing.  When I hit either "save" or "save as," the appropriate dialogue box comes up, I hit "save," and nothing happens.  The program just hangs.  File and other menus are faded out where I can't click on anything, and clicking on the x to close the program does nothing but create that little Windows error sound.  I have to Ctrl+Alt+Del to close the program, and whatever I was working on doesn't save.  I have tried waiting in case the program is just laggy but to no avail.  This happens with both "save" and "save as" but not with "save for web."  It also happens whether I open Editor directly or open it from the Organizer.  In case the issue was with the external drive that houses my photos, I have experimented with opening a file saved to the Desktop and trying to re-save it to the Desktop (without editing anything), and still the problem persists.  I am at my wit's end.  I can use Organizer—heck, I can play around in Editor—but I can't save the edits.  This was not always the case, and I don't know what's changed. 

Today, in an effort to improve the program's speed, I installed the program on my laptop (boot drive), whereas previously it was running off of my external drive.  (See How do I move Photoshop from external drive? )  The catalog and all my photos are still saved to the external.  I have noticed improved speed, but that's neither here nor there.  The point is that I reinstalled the program (from the CD), yet this issue with saving persists.

I would very much appreciate any assistance you can provide.