I'm quite new to SalesForce and need to start learning APEX. I have just downloaded and installed the following version of Eclipse:

http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/download.php?file=/technology/epp/downloads/release/europa/winter/eclipse-java-europa-winter-win32.zip

and then installed the Force.com IDE using the instructions on this page:

http://wiki.apexdevnet.com/index.php/Force.com_IDE_Installation_for_Eclipse_3.3.x

I'm now trying to complete some of the Force.com platform tutorials but I can't seem to create a new Force.com project as it crashes every time I try. I perform the following steps to replicate this:

- Open Force.com perspective

- File > New > Force.com project

- Enter all the relevant login and security token information to connect to our sandbox

- Verify that the proxy information is all correct

- Click Next

At this point the Progress Information popup appears and says "Fetching Organisation Details", which seems to work fine. It then changes to say "Fetching component metadata..." and below the progress bar it says "ApexTrigger, ApexClass, ApexComponent...". At this point Eclipse freezes and I have to kill the process, even after leaving it for half an hour. Nothing shows in the Log in Eclipse.

Has anyone experienced this problem? Any help greatly appreciated.

FYI... I have tried to following to no success:

- Removed Eclipse and reinstalled everything

- Tried using older version of Eclipse

- Tried using older version of Force.com IDE plugin

- Verified my sandbox connection details by logging into the sandbox frontend

- Verified my proxy details in IE

- Re-generated my Salesforce security token

- Entered my login info password in new project window as <password><securitytoken>

- Verified my Java Runtime Environment is > v1.5

- Managed to create new project in Eclipse with my details on a colleague's computer