HP Pavillion fan running continuously

Hiya
I have a HP Pavillion D6700 which is nearly 2 years old.
It's got Vista on it (grrr) and often goes off into its own world to do stuff I just don't need to know about. At these times, there is 100% processor usage and basically I just have to wait until it lowers itself to do something I'm requesting.
I don't know what processor it has, the sticker has fallen off, but I know it wasn't Intel-anything.

The fan runs all time, and has been doing this for about the last year. (We signed up for Netflix and can't watch anything on this laptop because the fan is noisier than the movies.)
The touchpad and keyboard around the c-f-t-u-j-m area gets absolutely boiling, sometimes it's too hot to touch.

I always have the laptop on a hard surface when I'm not at a desk.

OK so about 6 months ago, I googled this problem and I came across a fix which was to reduce the maximum power to the processor. This did not seem like a good idea (no technical idea why, it just seemed analogous to reducing the sugar supply to my brain) however when I did the enormous sound of the fan ramped downwards to a background hum and everything got much cooler. I played around with it and it seems that 70% is the power level at which things quieten down.
It means that I can hear the dialogue of a movie, but the action is a bit jerky, which is not ideal.
Btw, I also use the computer for other things than movies.

So my questions are:

Is reducing the maximum power level the processor harming my computer?
Is the overheating a symptom of a serious problem?
Should the fan be running all the time?
Is there another way of getting the fan to shut up a wee bit?!
Is there some kind of design fault that allows everything to get so hot I could fry an egg on it?


I've never like this computer, from the day I got it, sometimes I think it senses this.

I'd be really grateful for your help.

Thanks in advance,
Jane

 

Did I ask a stupid question?

 

You can download PCWizard below, on my sig. It'll tell you a lot more about your computer and its temp. It maynot give you a specific model number (which should be on your case), but the CPU, RAM and mobo type will help us.

There are 3 different versions of the 6700... is this one yours?
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...ry&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3879090

The fan shouldn't be spinning so fast, constantly. The cooling vents and heat sink maybe covered in dust and gunk.