My MacBook Pro (Early 2011) keeps freezing, the fan becomes extremely loud and the laptop gets very hot, what can I do?

Hi there,

I would be grateful if any one could help me. I purchased my MacBook Pro 13 Inch in August 2011, it was the "Early 2011" version, which was shipped with Lion (I have now upgraded it to Mountain Lion last year).

Up until a few weeks ago, it was running fine. But recently my MacBook keeps freezing (A circular rainbow appears on the cursor), slowing down, the fan gets very loud and I often have to restart the whole machine. This usually happens when I'm running programs such as Safari, Preview or Microsoft Word

I only use my MacBook for university work so I only have Microsoft Office and iWork installed, nothing else. I've only used 19gb out of the 320gb available. I've also reseted my MacBook to its factory settings but that hasn't fixed the problem.

I've checked my AppleCare status and it says:

Repairs and Service Coverage: Active

Your product is covered for eligible hardware repairs and service under a custom agreement.
For more information about your coverage, please contact us.
Estimated Expiration Date: 24 August 2014

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions to how I can resolve these problems, as it is stopping me from doing my work?

Many thanks.