Eclipse freezing at startup - before loading workspace

Found my problem. The Google GWT plugin does not clean up after itself and leaves lots of files in the Temp folder (C:\Documents and Settings{username}\Local Settings\Temp on XP). I had over 100000 files and several thousand folders in here - with over 99% of them due to the Google GWT plugin. I removed these and now Eclipse starts in a few seconds instead of 20 minutes. Plus my whole machine is generally running more smoothly.

Maybe this blog post could help:

In your workspace directory perform the following steps:

1. cd .metadata/.plugins
2. mv org.eclipse.core.resources org.eclipse.core.resources.bak
3. Start eclipse. (It should show an error message or an empty workspace because no project is found.)
4. Close all open editors tabs.
5. Exit eclipse.
6. rm -rf org.eclipse.core.resources (Delete the newly created directory.)
7. mv org.eclipse.core.resources.bak/ org.eclipse.core.resources (Restore the original directory.)
8. Start eclipse and start working. :-)

I also had similar problem. Eclipse (Luna) started normally with splash screen, then opened main window and immediately freeze. For me running eclipse with

eclipse.exe -clean -refresh

fixed the problem.

The link @CharlesB posted led me in the right direction, but I found that you only need to delete the .snap file located here:

[Workspace Directory]/.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.core.resources/.snap

(Note the .metadata directory is hidden.)