Office Cure

If M$ Office's Word does not start or starts too slowly, check how fast it starts with the "/a" option, like:
winword /a
In this mode all the add-ins and the templates do not apply.
If that's true (fast start with the /a), then:
Try to rename ~\Application Data\Microsoft\Template\Normal.dot (and probably the similar in that folder).
Go to Word's options dialog->add-ins, and try to disable all suspicious active add-inns.