I've been having many problems with my vista for the past 4 months.

I can't get into a group that I belong to, all I get when I try to post is white pages. Was having problems playing games at POGO. My home page won't keep me logged in.
The first thing my hubby tried was to do a system restore from the D drive. That didn't help anything. I've downloaded IE9 but I must have done something wrong. On my screen it looks like I am running IE9 but at POGO at the top of the screen it says I am running IE7 and need to update to IE8.
I have a HP Pavilion. With a dual operating system. IE9 is in the C drive but my vista is in the D drive. Using Norton Internet Security for virus and malware. Other scans as well.
At this point I'm ready to do another restore from factory disc and work back up. Is there anything ya'll can tell me to help me do the restore right? Any info about the problems I'm having?
I know just enough about computers to get in trouble once every few years....
Hope to hear from ya'll soon,
DF