Apparently avast has issued an "emergency" update 20131121.   It installs as a startup program, to run EACH time one boots-up.   WinPatrol alerted me to its presence.

We don't yet know what this update is supposed to accomplish, nor why it's running EVERY boot-up (as opposed to just running once to "fix" something).

Those interested can follow what's happening in my thread at the avast forum:  http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=140730.0 

Remark:  It would appear that the "date" code above represents the update... however, the name of the .exe file it places on one's system seems to vary, so yours will likely be different from the one I specifically named in the avast thread.