HP Vista infected and practically nothing works except https:/g

Thanks, I inadvertently posted this twice from mobile device. I will review and try to get this solved.

All, thank you for the tips, I apologize for not posting updates.
Right after the computer in question got infected, I brought home a similar computer from the repair shop, it had lost its hard drive and they re-installed original Windows Vista, which I'm on now, and things are happy there (which is what I'm on now0
On the infected computer, it was a nuisance type virus, it walked through all applications bit by bit and shut them down, even notepad. For a while Opera browser was working but then it couldn't get to the internet.
So I plan on just restoring, but a couple of questions:
- what about the files, should I assume they are (or are not) infected ?
- what about files on an external hard drive that I had connected and was mostly turned on ?
- is there any way to determine what exactly is the virus ?

nobus, thanks, I'll give it a try.

mtz1of4, thanks a lot
great idea on removing, yes I can do that, I already have an external drive that is just a case on a HD.
I just went with Norton (internet security, v 16.0.0.125), it was on my other machine that was just cleaned with restore disks (it's not bad either, $60 a year for 3 machines and now I'm on a 60-day trial).
so I connect the external drive to my clean machine with Norton, via USB. The machine recognizes it as a device and such, and then Norton says, "oh look, I better do my thing on this new device, let's roll !"
and with this method, would it clean the bad drive from the machine in question such that I wouldn't have to wipe it clean with the restore disks ?

Ok, thanks again. I have to mull this over.
Is there any way I can determine what virus I was hit with and try to read up on it ? That might help me decide which way to go.

not really,  the different AV companies call them different things sometimes, so even if Norton told you it was a beagle virus, AVG might call it a trojan worm.  

Have you Googled "Security Suite" to see what it tells you about IT being a virus?
The key at this point in time is to not let your clean machine get infected, so no sharing USB thumb drives if you can't physically lock them to Read Only.  Most thumb drives do not have this switch, however some Memory cards for cameras (SD cards anyways) do have them.  
I turn them on in the clean machine, put my AV programs and updates on them, then remove them from clean machine, Lock to Read Only, then I can install those programs on bad machine, IF the virus lets me install.
I typically remove the hard drives and attach them to the clean machine though, but the above is a workaround if you're not comfortable.

Consider it a learning experience.  You have a clean machine, so if you run into issues, you can always Google the exact error message, or come right back here.  Keep good notes though, screenshots, digital camera even.
Exact Error Messages are crucial to finding fixes.

mtz, ok, good, thanks so much. I need to do something to at a minimum recover the pics and make sure the external that was connected to infected machine is ok. I'll have to pick this up later today.

Ok, one more question and then I think I'll close this out, as you've really answered my question. I think it's going to be awhile before I get around to this, as having the PC is not critical for the moment (my son is away at school).
so, what happens if I copy a couple of files from infected computer to flash drive and then put them on clean computer that has Norton running ? Will Norton say, "oh look, here's a new file, let's run it through the virus-checker "?
I know that sounds like a dumb question . . . although I work as a software developer (in a larger organization), I still am kind of puzzled at how anti-virus software works, from a user perspective.
So, when I put the flash drive in a USB port, would Norton immediately check everything on the drive ? If so, then Norton recognizes a "foreign object" and then does its thing ?

closing this out now, sorry for the delay. Most likely I will just re-install Vista, I have the Recovery Disks.
still looking for an answer to above comment, "so, what happens if I copy a couple of files from infected computer to flash drive and then put them on clean computer that has Norton running ? Will Norton say, "oh look, here's a new file, let's run it through the virus-checker "?
I know it might be risky, but my sense is this virus was a nuisance one and didn't infect the data files, only the executables.
Thanks.

not sure why this didn't close out properly, I assigned points. Checking with moderator.

yes, Norton should scan those files just fine. you could even have Norton scan them while on the flash drive.

mtz, ok, good, thanks, I'll start with that.
still not sure why this question didn't close out cleanly, I awarded points in the normal manner, as far I as can tell.

Thank you, _alias99