Hello, Brave! This is my first post on this community, so there may be some mistakes. Thank you for understanding.
Can someone explain what happened here?
After restarting my router using the web interface on Brave and closing the browser, Brave started to silently install Avast Secure Browser out of nowhere without any message.
I have never installed Avast or any related software, nor have I even heard of it in about 3 years!
Then, Windows requested pinning the Avast Secure Browser on my taskbar from a notification and said it was from chrmstp.exe, so I searched that name up on my hard drive and found out it is the setup file, which is located at C:\Program Files\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\Application\136.1.78.97\Installer\chrmstp.exe .
The file was digitally signed by Brave Software, Inc., on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 1:32:09 PM. The digital signature was OK, so I don’t think it was from a malware.
I guess the browser imported settings from Edge (even though that’s not my default browser) because it had the bookmarks only on Edge.
I’ve been using Brave for a long time, and this kind of situation has never happened.
Brave Version: Version 1.78.97 Chromium 136.0.7103.93 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Additional Information: This might be unrelated, but I was installing a Kubuntu ISO torrent using Classic Desktop BitTorrent (both are latest and from the official sites)