Ok..so I did use ccleaner's registry backup of my erasure of the Invalid Firewall Rules.
And with 3 different tests of exactly what I was doing that led to the difference in browser behavior i mentioned above, well, I'm now back to how it behaved before. My test did include a couple very long ones...ahh..was watching life of brian....couldn't stop laughing. again, that test get's the same results too.
No longer get strange IE things to delete.
So, one of those rules wasn't invalid after all. lol, those names of those rules are so obscure I will never understand them I figure.
But I'm happy to know the Win 7 firewall does do some work. Nothing better than seeing it with one's own eyes.
Anyway, seems mystery solved. And again, ain't trying to wave a red flag here. I consider CCleaner a great tool. And i am entirely aware that messing with all those registry entries is a tricky business. I'm glad cc has the back up option and I'm glad I use it.