Safari freezes when trying to logon to sites

Question

Safari and/or Google Chrome locks up when I go to a site and try to login with a user name & PW.
Here is an example:
When signing into Apple support I type my username (which is an email address), and then when I erither tab to get to the password box or click to get to the pw box the whole system freezes. I cannot typr into the box, I cannot move the browser window or minimize it, or click on a dock item or anything.
The only way out of it is:
1.     Wait - sometimes up to 3 minutes for the system to act normally and allow me to put in password and move on.
2.     Press the power on/off button momentarily, until this show up, then press cancel and I can then (sometimes but, not always), proceed.
3. When all else fails, shut down, and even that sometimes won't happen so I'll press and hold the on/off button until it does shut down.
This is a MB Pro (see details at end of post), with a 3-day old clean install of Lion. I first installed Snow Leopard (deleted partition then created a new one), then did the upgrade to Lion.
Anyone know what this could be? Any help would be appreciated.
Hardware Overview:
  Model Name:          MacBook Pro
  Model Identifier:          MacBookPro4,1
  Processor Name:          Intel Core 2 Duo
  Processor Speed:          2.4 GHz
  Number of Processors:          1
  Total Number of Cores:          2
  L2 Cache:          3 MB
  Memory:          2 GB
  Bus Speed:          800 MHz
  Boot ROM Version:          MBP41.00C1.B03
  SMC Version (system):          1.27f3
  Serial Number (system):          W88132RFYJX
  Hardware UUID:          298BAA49-A3B8-549F-8A3C-1879335CA975
  Sudden Motion Sensor:
  State:          Enabled
Software
Mac OS X
Version 10.7.2

Answer 1

Create a new User go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > "+" (make it an admin acct) and test the apps in this new account, if they work the problem is isolated to your User and not systemwide.
If the issue is limited to your user account try starting up in Safe Mode  (It will take more time to startup because it runs a directory check.)
If your apps functions correctly that way, go to System Preferences >> Accounts >> Login Items and remove them. Boot normally and test. If not go to/Users/yourname/Library/Contextual Menu Items and move whatever is there to the desktop. Then do the same with /Library/Contextual Menu Items. Lastly, try moving/Users/yourname/Library/Fonts to your desktop.
* Go to your Finder "Go" menu hold the option key to choose "Library"
Log out/in or restart, if that sorts it start putting items back one at a time until you find the culprit.