Why Does Java Slow My MacBook to a CRAWL?

Hello all, I would greatly appreciate some help on this issue as I have not the slightest idea on how to solve it.

Using java on my MacBook pro seems to be slowing it down to an absolute crawl, to the point where the computer is basically unusable, (Google Chrome asks me to "kill" websites because they are no longer responding, webpages in general take 2+ minutes to load up). Both the internet, and all applications on my computer become very, very, VERY slow while running Java.

Also, the computer becomes very hot, and the fan becomes very noisy.

This only recently began, so I'm sure it has something to do with the java update that was released in June of this year, although I'm not sure. I've considered trying to downgrade to an earlier version of Java but I have had trouble doing this.

It does not matter which browser I'm using, (Safari, Chrome, Firefox), the same result occurs.

I'm running OS X 10.6 and have the latest version of Java.

Can anyone help me so that I can use java and NOT have my computer slow down?

Thanks

What is it that you're doing that requires Java? It's pretty rare these days.

Is there a specific site that you need to use that requires a Java applet? Could you just disable Java, or not visit that site at all?

What's the web application that you're trying to use?