Help!!!! System restore unable to start after virus removal.

Please help anyone who can!
So I recently contracted the "hard disk error" virus on Vista. It was a PAIN to remove, but the programs I ran (RKill and Malwarebytes) really seemed to do the trick.
However, the virus came back a couple days ago! I guess I failed to clean it thouroughly enough? Anyways, for whatever reason I had to run my virus software again.
I left the scan running, and became distracted by other things cause those scans take SO long. But after about a half an hour I glanced at my computer and noticed a blue screen flash across my monitor for about half a second before my computer totally shut down
So I assumed it was the same virus, and attempted to restart and keep cleaning. However my computer can ONLY run in safe mode without spontaneously shutting down.
So I read about running system restore in safe mode, but I've encountered all of the following problems and HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO!!

1. I can't find system restore through the start menu, or "system properties" in the control panel. Start menu can't find it and the "system protection" tab is missing under the control panel.
2. I can't execute rstrui.exe on task manager. I've tried the offline executable and SystemPropertiesProtection.exe. All of those three generate some sort of error after I attempted to run them.
3. Lastly, when I run System Repair using the F8 startup options, I click on "System Restore" and absolutely nothing happens. If I wait a minute and click again it says "the System Restore wizard is already running". So...no idea why my computer thinks that's the case.

PLEASE! I've checked every forum available to me and can't eve locate my system restore!!!! Even if it's not the best way to fix this problem, that's definitely worrisome.
Any feedback would be really appreciated, but for the time being restoring my current computer to its factory settings is not an option. I've got some really vital files on my current computer and am refusing to lose them all without trying literally ANYTHING else.

Hello, for now , in case you do have to do a reinstall, grab your stuff now using this : Use Ubuntu Live CD to Backup Files from Your Dead Windows Computer - How-To Geek

Hi Abelaraide

A while ago,
I wrote a tool to run a Restore Point without making use of the standard interface of System Restore.
You can run it in Safe Mode.
Because of the slow opening of System Restore in Vista,
you must be patient until the System Restore Points are retrieved (if there are any).
If you run the tool, a Notepad file will be created with names, dates, and a SequenceNumber.
If the tool can retrieve the Restore Points,
you must enter the SequenceNumber of the appropriate Restore Point in the text field of the tool and click OK.
(Again, you need some patience here before the computer reboots)
Let us hope that it is possible to Restore your system to a previous state with this tool.
I assume, looking at your system specs, you have a 32 bit system.

Good luck
Sweet