Computer sometimes in malfunctioned state when woken from sleep

This is kind of hard to explain, but lately about half the time I wake my computer from sleep,
it's in a very malfunctioned state.

I enter my password on the lock screen and my desktop comes up.
I can move the cursor around, but I can't click on anything... at all.
Things don't even highlight when I put the cursor over them.

I can use my keyboard to get to the Task Manager and go to the Processes tab,
but there are NO processes listed (not even the System Idle Process).

When this happens, I am unable to restart or shut down the computer normally,
so I have to hold the power button on my laptop to force it to power off.

I think this started happening after a Windows Update a few weeks ago.
(I don't do automatic updates; I just manually update Windows every few months or so.)

I hate updating Windows; it seems every time I do, it creates problems.
This is why I don't do it often, and sometimes consider not doing it at all...


Anyway, has anyone else experienced this or know how to fix it, or at least know how I can diagnose the issue?


(OS: Windows 7 Home SP1 64-bit)