Hi,
Sorry about the delay responding -- somehow I didn't get the notification of this new topic.
Let's have a look at the TF diagnostic file and see if there are any clues in there.
Once you deleted your GIS folder, what is it hanging on now? There shouldn't be a continent.gpx file, so it should hang on that (it may be some other file you have loaded).
You can hang onto your settings by copying the TopoFusion.ini file into another directory, or rename it. Then see if it'll load with the default settings. Most likely it will, but at least we'd know for sure it's some file or setting causing the issue.
Thanks.