Windows 7 - Virus? - unable to to do system restore or open many programs

hi, i think i have a virus on my computer, it happened a couple of days ago, i've messed around with it a little but with no joy, i had error msg's so tried to do a system restore but got this msg c:\windows\system32\rstrui.exe the extended tributes are inconsistent, i had errors with norton so tried to uninstall then reinstall it but i'm now unable to install this, i'm also unable to do much with the computer, can anyone please offer any advice? i'm ready for any question, thanks very much.

The standard recommendation would be to download, update, and run Malwarebytes:

Malwarebytes : Free anti-malware, anti-virus and spyware removal download

Hi keithpb, welcome to Seven Forums.
PC's that are giving symptoms you describe make it difficult to download and install anything, especially AV programs.
Get a clean pc to download SUPERAntiSpyware.com - SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner run it from a thumbdrive plugged into your pc when switched off, start your pc and press F8 key repeatedly to access safe mode, then run a full scan.

If you thought you had a virus, why uninstall Norton? You should have run a full scan right away.
Do you have any other security programs on real time?

As Britton said do you have any more than one AV or ISS running at one time? Leads to tears my friend.

Here's a couple or two you could try

Free Virus Scan - Kaspersky Lab

Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller > rootkits

Dr.Web CureIt! — download free anti-virus! Cure viruses, Best free anti-virus scanner! > anything nasty

If you are looking for falsies

HijackThis - Trend Micro USA for your reg

|MG| RogueKiller 6.1.1.0 Download

Cos theres always this
Microsoft Safety & Security Centre

You may indeed have a virus, however, I had a problem with system restore involving Norton. Every time I attempted to do it, I got a message saying that Windows was unable to restore to the previous version.

The solution I found was that you have to go to the Norton administrative settings and turn off "Norton Product Tamper Protection".

Turn it off permanently, not for 15 min or the other times offered. Now do a system restore and it should work. After a successful system restore, be sure to re-enable the Tamper Protection.

After you do the system restore, Norton may report that your AV defs are out of date, just hit the live update (or it will initiate the process by itself) and once the defs are restored, all should be fine.

I'm not sure why you are having problems accessing programs, it could be a virus or maybe something got scrambled when you couldn't do a system restore because of Norton (I know my PC acted a bit wonky after it failed to do the restores). Hopefully, you'll be able to do the restore and it will fix things.