The_Gear -
Thanks for your reply. Launched ODM on another of my rigs just now and it self-updated without going poof here, no reboot required. Learned that ODM is not a 'program' in the Program Files sense - it is tucked away in the User profile, which makes a certain sense but was certainly not expected so I hadn't looked for it there on the other rig.
I'm not currently near the rig where ODM self-destructed on self-updating so I'll have to get back to you when I can take a peek at the User profile there.
Suppose it could be random file corruption. I've had that occur from time to time - just a few weeks ago WBConfig somehow got corrupted such that clicking on the Apply button launched the MyAccount page of store.stardock.com. Had to completely uninstall and reinstall WB to fix it.