Resolved Slow to Boot, Slow to Open

OK,
I know I ******* up. I'm Running 7 Home Premium. I had trouble editing my HOST file. I did everything including some of the recommended programs to run as ADMIN but to no avail. It would not save. Finally I created a Super Admin User and was successful editing and saving it in Word. When I hit save it asked a question about this file and files like it to be saved as txt or something like it.
Anyway my ICONS for Word changed. Also a few Icons for Programs changed too...To cut to the chase i did a system restore and it fixed all the icons and took me back to before the edit of the HOST file. No problem I thought. Now booting is slow, and loading programs is delayed. Once I open any browser or program they seem to run just fine, but loading is delayed and occasionally they also slow down.
I would gladly do a fresh install but I have several programs that I no longer have the install disc or were installed from Giveawayoftheday, besides it would be a PIA. Any ideas from some of you geniuses out there looking at some file printout for a fix? Unlike XP Restore console repairing Windows XP, Win 7 doesn't have this feature (or does it?).

 

Resolved