Multi-second System Hangs with Rainbow Beachballs

Status: still happens in 10.7.2, especially with Microsoft products, and Adobe Dreamweaver and disk-intensive activity.

Under Mac OS X Lion, I’ve noticed an pronounced increase in system delays and hangs of multiple seconds with the infamous “rainbow beachball” cursor.

The delay varies, but affects programs like Microsoft Excel very frequently for me. While the delays are usually no more than 2-4 seconds, they become quite irritating when trying to get work done.