You can uncheck the box in Disk Cleanup concerning Compressed Files.
You can permantly disable it via the Registry. 812248 - Disk Cleanup Tool Stops Responding While Compressing Old Files
Locate, and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches
On the File menu, click Export, and then click Desktop, type VolumeCaches in the File name box, and then click Save.
Note This step creates a backup of the VolumeCaches registry key. If you experience any problems after you complete the steps that are listed in this procedure, you can use this backup to restore the VolumeCaches key to its original state. To restore the key, double-click the VolumeCaches.reg file on your desktop, and then click Yes.
Expand the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Volume Caches
Delete the Compress old files registry key.
310312 - Description of the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP