whenever I get a virus or something small that may be bugging me, I would use system restore to restore to a point a month before. This seemed to work for me everytime. Is this a good(for the lack of a better word) way to get rid of random spyware and viruses? Are they just keeping on the down-low and hiding from me and strike when I least expect it?

No, that is not a good strategy. System Restore only keeps track of some files, not all. And when you restore back in time, you set your security defenses back in time too. Not good. The proper strategy is prevent malware from being installed on your system to begin with. See my sticky, Practicing Safe Computing. And for more information on System Restore, see How to use System Restore - MSKB 306084.