Disc cleanup utility not working-freezes

When I try to use the disc cleanup utility it freezes up with 3-bars showing on the progress bar graph and below that it says compressing files. When I start it I can hear the hard drive start to work for 15-30 seconds and then it stops. I have left it on overnight and it still is frozen in the morning displaying no results. I had to use the system restore feature to fix a problem and I think that may be where this problem started. I have used the disc cleanup feature to dump temp. internet files so I know it has worked in the recent past. Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give me on this frustrating problem.