Vista Premium 64 bit on HP Pavilion Elite M9250F Big headache?

I was playing a game called "Battlestations Midway". After shuting down normally, when I tried to reboot later, the computer totally freaked out, went into repair mode, but ended up going in circles for about 2 hours. I did some backup DVDs took 3 in all after installing some programs. For some reason the computer told me there was no restore points, which I found odd because I remember turning it on manually. So far this new software has given me nothing but headaches. I am currently writing this letter for help on my Windows XP computer, I had no choice regarding the OS when I bought this HP Pavilion Elite. If I use those 3 disks to restore, will I loose all the programs I installed, these programs were installed before creating the emergency disks. At this point I am an unhappy camper, the video card is Nvidia 8600 GT, of course HP did not give me a driver on a disk for this, so anyone has any answers for me, I thank you in advance, I am in computer hell. By the way Norton is runnin