XP system restore wont restore

[needhelp]

I tried to restore my computer today back to yesterday restore point cos I got a virus on my computer. Avast seems to have removed it okay but just to be on the safe side i decided to restore the comp back to a check point I knew was good. However the restore thing went through its thing and restarted the computer but when it rebooted it said it could not be restored to that restore point. I tried to restore to several points after that went back 3 days but still the same message and the computer was not restored.
I dont know if this is related to the problem but ever since this has happened, the virus thing I mean, when I go to my computer, it takes ages to find it, about a minute. before it use to be almost instant. everything else opens okay, my documents etc but not my computer. I get the torch looking for the icons and as I said it takes about a minute to bring them up
Its the same if I am in my computer and leave it and try to go back to it immediately, still takes about a minute to find it.
What can I do about getting my restore feature to work again.

[EzyStvy]

Most "manual" virus removal instructions say to zap the restore point since they are probably infected too...

How to troubleshoot the System Restore tool in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;302796