Under the General tab in Local Disc C Properties I use cleanup. And occasionally I also defrag and error check on the Tools tab. With a relatively new HP laptop with Windows 8 OS, the "cleanup" option stalls around 50% in its process. I've used this tool for years on other PCs but I've never had this issues since Windows 8 has entered my lifestyle
Any solutions to this "cleanup" problem is very much appreciated. Wisdom is a gift and it gets better when you share! Thanks.

I'm not sure about this one.

I would start by disabling all start-up programs because the can interfere with the process.
To do this press and hold (Crrl+Alt+Del) for the task manager.
Go to the start-up tab and disable all the programs from starting. You can reverse this process at anytime. Restart and try run the cleanup again.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

Hope this helps
Grant Hills - South Africa