Beware Astromenda
I finally got around to updating Adobe and Java. I always uncheck anything else they offer to install. Two days later I wasn't able to get some of my favorite sites to open. I sometimes got partial pages but mostly it would just load and load. Figured I'd better run Malwarebytes.
Sure enough, it came up with 12 nasty bits, all called Astromenda. Two were registry keys. So, I looked it up.
"Astromenda Search it’s technically not a virus, but it does exhibit plenty of malicious traits, such as rootkit capabilities to hook deep into the operating system, browser hijacking, and in general just interfering with the user experience. The industry generally refers to it as a “PUP,” or potentially unwanted program."
http://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-astromenda-virus/
Since it's not a virus, Avast ignores it. But it was most assuredly interfering with my user experience, so I got rid of it. Everything works fine again.
It didn't change my homepage or anything like the above referenced article says and I'm still not quite sure how I got it. I suspect it's getting nastier.
So, if you update anything, you might want to check right away, with Malwarebytes, to be sure you weren't gifted with it, too.
Safe surfing. 
= new reply since forum marked as read
