The 2018.5 update addressed several critical areas where users had reported instability in earlier versions (such as Update 3 and 4):
To understand why "fixing" Maya 2018 was so vital, one must look at the major shifts introduced in that version: autodesk maya 20185 fixed
Here is exactly what I did to solve it:
Corrupted preferences are a frequent cause of instability. Renaming the prefs folder in your Maya documents directory allows the software to generate a fresh, clean set. The 2018