stand by restart

I had a little problem with malware and .Net Framework (too much malware and could not get Framework 3.0 and 3.5 up to load) but I was able to put the computer on standby then just one click and I was back at my desktop ready to go. I fixed the malware and I am all up to date with the Framework but now I put the computer on standby then click to reload or restart all I get is my desktop screensaver and that is it, no files, programs, nothing, not even the mouse is active. The only thing I could do was to shut it down hard. Is there a driver for that or is there a way to reconfigure standby. The computer is a dell with XP pro sp 3.5. Any help anybody could give me would be great. thank you.