Hello,
What anti-virus are you running? Restores don't usually work. First you'll have to remove any viruses that might be causing the symptoms but the anti-virus is also a program that may not work either as a result of the infection. You may have to run a deep full anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-rootkit scan from safe mode.
After that, and if your programs still don't run, your best bet is probably to run the Vista installation CD and go for the "repair" option, this usually leaves your installed programs alone while repairing the operating system while presumably restoring funcitonality to your installed programs.
Let me know please.
I am running Windows Vista home edition. Recently I think a virus or something has ruined my computer. I can no longer download any program from the web and many of the programs that reside on my hard drive will not function. I am led to believe their is a registry problem. Microsofts suggestions of doing restores just made the entire situation worse. Any help appreciated.