Tortoise has a few
settings that will improve performance and useability.
The first is to only use the icon overlay in a specific folder
(and subfolders). I put all my local files under c:\Working
Docs.
Go to the settings menu, Look And Feel, Icon Overlays and under
include path type in something like c:\Working Docs\*
I also tend to use Diff quite a bit, so under settings, Look and
Feel, untick Diff, and it will now show up in the main context menu
instead of the sub-context menu.
Finally, I find WinMerge a much easier app to use than
TortosieMerge. Provided WinMerge is installed, go to
Settings/External Programs, Select External and type in C:\Program
Files\WinMerge\WinMergeU.exe (or the relivent path).