I too have had problems getting my system restore to work on my Windows 7 system. This solved my problem after many other attempts failed:
1. Click onto your Start button Picture of the Start button, click Control Panel, click System and Security, and then click System. A pop-up window should appear in the left pane, click System Protection.
2. Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
3. To turn on System Protection for a hard disk, select Create, and then type in a date you want to restore your PC to, (I typed in December 30, 2011). Now click Create...and close out of the control panel.
Now make sure your anti-virus programs are turned off (I use Panda Cloud, which I consider to best - and I've used plenty of them. Open up system restore again and find the Create date you just typed in, mine was at the top of the list. Click onto your Create
date, and click NEXT.....Your system restore should now work for most of you!
