Trouble using “system restore”

I am having a difficult time trying to create a new system restore point on my computer.  My computer is Windows XP, and I have tried unsuccessfully to change and create a new restore point.  The dates that were available, ( I tried four different dates), could not fix my problem, and I wonder if I am doing something wrong?  I use Mozilla Firefox as my search engine (??).  I'm sure I've done something wrong, and I am not very computer "savvy".  The reason I want to create a new restore point is to bring back photos that were deleted when I was using Uniblue 'Powersuite' under the heading 'duplicate files'.
I hope someone can help me.
Thank you.