Computer keeps freezing with Lion

I am currently using a mid-2009 13-in MacBook Pro with an upgraded hard drive (750 SATA disk). I had ZERO problems with the computer prior to or after the hard drive upgrade UNTIL I got Lion (currently have 10.7.3).
Now, not a day goes by when my computer doesn't freeze. If I try to open multiple web pages AND Word at the same time, the spinning wheel of death pops up. God forbid I even think of opening PhotoShop. I can usually get the Force Quit application to appear, but it never works, and ultimately my computer can only be made to work by shutting down and restarting.
As a grad student who uses my computer for research (usually involving multiple web pages, datasets in Excel, Word notes, and sometimes statistical software packages like Stata all running at the same time) this is very very frustrating.
I'm tech-capable to a point, but I am not well-versed enough to know how to fix this on my own (or if there even IS a fix).
I was a loyal Mac enthusiast until recently, but this has got me at my wit's end. Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

Perhaps you can run a disk check on the disk. I did it recently on the second (not bootup) disk, and it found a bunch of errors.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1782

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