Ever since I did a system restore in February,when I try to open a program it wants me to use a program or designate a program to open it..

In Windows Explorer, try navigating to \Windows\System32, right-click on cmd.exe and choose Run as administrator. If that fails try using the program command.com, which is in the same folder. Now type assoc .exe=exefile and press Enter. You may have to restart the computer. If you’re unable to run the above, download the .exe fix here http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/105/1/File-association-fixes-for-Windows-Vista.html