Mac thinks alt/option key is always held down

This problem has happened twice on this iMac in the last two weeks. The first time it didn't disappear until I reinstalled Yosemite fresh. Now it has randomly done it again. Here is the full deal.
iMac 27" late 2009, 12 gb of RAM, Wacom Intuos 3 tablet, external OWC Mercury Elite Pro FW800 2 TB drive, Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.2, Apple Wireless Keyboard (came with iMac), Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500. The Mac goes along fine, then suddenly all type input from the keyboard is scrambled looking. However, the reason becomes clear when the Keyboard Viewer is opened: the Mac thinks the alt/option key is pressed. If the keyboard is powered off, taken away from the Mac, and linked up to an iPad Air 2, it works perfectly, so it isn't the keyboard.
I am at my wits end. After years without a Mac (but with an iPhone and an iPad), I expected not to run into this kind of PC-style inexplicable nuttiness. Maybe someone here can explain this phenomena and tell me whatbI am doing wrong.

Hi Glenn,
It may help to reset your Mac's SMC and PRAM.
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Reset your computer’s PRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
Regards,
Allen

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Mac thinks alt/option key is always held down

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