Bridge and LR classic crash by strat up

You can uninstall Bridge and reinstall Bridge and never lose your folders because Bridge uses the folders on your computer. 

The same goes with LR Classic. All the folders you see in LRC exist on your computer. The difference between LRC and Bridge is that the database in LRC KNOWS where all the files are located, but Bridge has no clue where things are, and if you do not point out where a given file is located, Bridge doesn't care.

However, crashing at startup is very seldom cured by reinstalling. Resetting Bridge's Preferences is more likely to generate success (but not always). 

The thing is, you have to balance the fact that most people are not having these crashes at startup. I certainly am not having these issues, and just about all of the users I know do not. 

So, what's the difference? 

My guess is that it's something within the computer: most computer users do not do general maintenance (gobs of people hardly ever change the oil in their car (LOL). They may have almost filled up their hard drive leaving little room for applications to run. They may not have done updates that needed to be done. The range of possibilities goes on and on. Nonetheless, the symptom seems to be Bridge, but what's the cause?