ENTER key opens up browser - no matter what you're doing on the comput

HI - I have a dell PC - suddenly in the last two days, no matter where I am in the computer, if I hit the ENTER key, the internet opens up. First it was firefox (so i uninstalled that) - now it is Edge - if I'm in MS Word or notepad, or even just on the desktop - I hit enter, the browser opens up - set to my home page (default to google.com) - and no matter what I do, it keeps going back there. I have AVAST anti virus (no viruses) - malware protection - it's a mystery.

VERY frustrating. If writing an email, i cannot start a new line by pressing enter - it just opens up a new browser at the google.com. I had it at cnn.com originally, thought that was the rpoblem - but no matter where I set the homepage to, that's where it goes. I uninstalled the keyboard drivers (keyboard is IOGEAR multimedia keyboard) - that didn't resolve them - spoke to DELL who were absolutely useless -(tech support couldn't figure out how to get into the bios/boot menu - kept telling me F12 - I had to google it myself and suggest F2 - then he got nasty and told me "he's worked at dell for three years, HE would know much better than me - and it's F12" - after trying F12 for 15 minutes and getting nowhere, I tried F2, worked immediately - he got upset and told me it's not his fault I can't follow instructions - and even then he couldn't figure anything out) ... there go 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back - have rebooted a dozen times - desperate :-(

I cleaned the keyboard thoroughly with compressed air - makes no difference. The Enter key still opens up the home page of the browser. I'm going to try a brand new keyboard tomorrow, see if that helps. I did try the onscreen keyboard, the enter key works just fine.
I put in a call to microsoft - the tech was great - she took remote control over my computer, checked for malware - downloaded a malware program and said there were 70 threats, which she neutralized - that still didn't work. Then she said she needs to reinstall windows 10.... so that took a while - after an hour she said she needed to go (off the phone) but would call me back in an hour - she didn't unfortunately, and then three hours later, when I thought everything was going well, installation failed - it said that the computer was returned to the same state it was before trying to reinstall. so the computer is exactly where I was before - she ended her online chat and I haven't heard from her since - so it was A+ for effort to begin with, but the reinstallation of windows 10 was a failure and hence that part was a waste of time - but was impressed that microsoft was so helpful. I have done a full online scan of my computer - zero threats - it's just very odd that this has happened only since the latest windows update a few days ago. I will see what happens with a brand new keyboard tomorrow.

I bought a different keyboard home from the office, to try it out - Enter key still opens browser....
So at least I know it's not the keyboard - I'm going to uninstall a few programs and add-ons.... maybe that will make a difference - thank you though, really appreciate the responses, and people trying to help - this is a great forum. Thanks again.

spunk said:

If the onscreen keyboard works, then it is not a software problem. It is more then likely the keyboard. Reinstalling Windows seems like something that wasn't necessary.