What does Refresh Desktop or Refresh explorer window actually do?

I am sure that you must have noticed that when you right-click on your Windows desktop or inside an open explorer window, you see an option called Refresh in the context menu. The Refresh option has been there since you can remember!
But have you really wondered what this option actually does? Does it refresh your Windows OS and keep it running smoothly? Does it make your Windows faster? Or maybe you think it will clear your computer’s memory or refresh the RAM…? Actually it is none of these!

What does Refresh Desktop or Folder do

The Desktop is nothing but a folder in the Windows operating system. It is programmed to auto-refresh when its contents change. When the contents of the folder changes, it will auto-refresh. But at times, you may find that the desktop or folder does not auto-refresh.
You may then need to refresh your desktop manually in the following circumstances:

• The desktop does not display the files or folders you just created, moved, deleted, renamed or saved on it
• You need to re-align your desktop icons
• You find that you cannot use the desktop icons.
• Files that were created to the desktop by some 3rd-party application do not appear
• And such similar situations where the contents of the desktop or the folder do not change when expected to.

In such a case, when you press F5 or right-click on your Windows desktop and select Refresh, the situation will be corrected. Manually refreshing the desktop or folder may re-order its contents as, folders first, then files, in an alphabetical order.

Why do some people Refresh desktop constantly?

You may have noticed that some people just refresh their desktops frequently for the sake of refreshing it. It has become almost like a compulsive disorder, to refresh the desktop constantly. You may have noticed this habit especially among some Computer Engineers and Technicians who are obsessed with using the Refresh option – almost in a state of frenzy.
What is the reason for this? There is no need or reason to do this. It is just a silly habit, they simply need to break.
Do you have any friends who are in habit of using Refresh Desktop option frequently? Maybe you want to share this post with them.
Or maybe you too are one of them … if so do try and break this habit!
NOTE: The Refresh option cannot be removed from the right-click context menu, or changed as it is not a shell extension, but is hard coded in the operating system.

Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files

                           System File Checker is a utility in Windows that allows users to scan for corruptions in Windows system files and restore corrupted files. This article describes how to run the System File Checker tool (SFC.exe)  to scan your system files and to repair missing or corrupted system files in Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7 or Windows Vista. If a Windows Resource Protection (WRP) file is missing or is corrupted, Windows may not behave as expected. For example, some Windows functions may not work, or Windows may crash. 

Run the System File Checker tool (SFC.exe)

To do this, follow these steps:

1.Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, do the following as your appropriate

2.At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

sfc /scannow

 

 

                      The sfc /scannow command will scan all protected system files, and replace corrupted files with a cached copy that is located in a compressed folder at %WinDir%\System32\dllcache.
The %WinDir% placeholder represents the Windows operating system folder. For example, C:\Windows.

Note Do not close this Command Prompt window until the verification is 100% complete. The scan results will be shown after this process is finished.

3.After the process is finished, you may receive one of the following messages:

• Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
  
  This means that you do not have any missing or corrupted system files.
• Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.
  
  To resolve this problem, perform the System File Checker scan in safe mode(ie. boot to safe mode ), and make sure that the PendingDeletes and PendingRenames folders exist under %WinDir%\WinSxS\Temp.
• Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. Details are included in the CBS.Log %WinDir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log.
  
  To view the detail information about the system file scan and restoration, go to How to view details of the System File Checker process.
• Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log %WinDir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log.
   
  To repair the corrupted files manually, view details of the System File Checker process to find the corrupted file, and then manually replace the corrupted file with a known good copy of the file.

 

How to view details of the System File Checker process

To view the details that included in the CBS.Log file, you can copy the information to the Sfcdetails.txt file by using the Findstr command, and then view the details in the Sfcdetails.txt. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open an elevated command prompt

   

   open cmd as administraator

    
2. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
   findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt"
   Note The Sfcdetails.txt file contains details from every time that the System File Checker tool has been run on the computer. The file includes information about files that were not repaired by the System File Checker tool. Verify the date and time entries to determine the problem files that were found the last time that you ran the System File Checker tool.                            

  3.Open the Sfcdetails.txt file from your desktop.


  4.The Sfcdetails.txt file uses the following format:
        Date/Time SFC detail
        The following sample log file contains an entry for a file that could not be repaired

2007-01-12 12:10:42, Info                  CSI    00000008 [SR] Cannot       
repair member file [l:34{17}]"Accessibility.dll" of Accessibility, Version = 
6.0.6000.16386, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_MSIL (8), Culture neutral,       
VersionScope neutral, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:b03f5f7f11d50a3a}, Type        
neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, file is missing   

How to manually replace a corrupted system file with a known good copy of the file

 After you determine which system file was corrupted and could not be repaired through the detail information in the Sfcdetails.txt file, find where the corrupted file located, and then manually replace the corrupted file with a known good copy of the file. To do this, follow these steps:

Note You may be able to get a known good copy of the system file from another computer that is running the same version of Windows with your computer. You may perform a System File Checker process on that computer to make sure the system file that you intend to copy is a good copy.

1. Take administrative ownership of the corrupted system file. To do this, at an elevated command prompt, copy and then paste (or type) the following command, and then press ENTER:

           takeown /f Path_And_File_Name

Note The Path_And_File_Name placeholder represents the path and the file name of the corrupted file. For example, type takeown /f C:\windows\system32\jscript.dll.

 

        

 

           2.                 Grant administrators full access to the corrupted system file. To do this, copy and   paste (or  type) the following command, and then press ENTER:
icacls Path_And_File_Name /GRANT ADMINISTRATORS:F 

 

Note The Path_And_File_Name placeholder represents the path and the file name of the corrupted file. For example, type icacls C:\windows\system32\jscript.dll /grant administrators:F.

 

 

 

 

        3   .Replace the corrupted system file with a known good copy of the file. To do this, copy and paste (or type) the following command, and then press ENTER:

Copy Source_File Destination

 

 

Note The Source_File placeholder represents the path and file name of the known good copy of the file on your computer, and the Destination placeholder represents the path and file name of the corrupted file. For example, type copy E:\temp\jscript.dll C:\windows\system32\jscript.dll.

How to start your personal computer or laptop in safe mode

                        Safe mode starts Windows with a limited set of files and drivers. Startup programs don't run in safe mode, and only the basic drivers needed to start Windows are installed.

 Safe mode is useful for troubleshooting problems with programs and drivers that might not start correctly or that might prevent Windows from starting correctly. If a problem doesn't reappear when you start in safe mode, you can eliminate the default settings and basic device drivers as possible causes. If a recently installed program, device, or driver prevents Windows from running correctly, you can start your computer in safe mode and then remove the program that's causing the problem.

1. Remove all floppy disks, CDs, and DVDs from your computer, and then restart your computer.
   Click the Start button , click the arrow next to the Shut Down button , and then click Restart.
2. Do one of the following:
   • If your computer has a single operating system installed, press and hold the F8 key as your computer restarts. You need to press F8 before the Windows logo appears. If the Windows logo appears, you'll need to try again by waiting until the Windows logon prompt appears, and then shutting down and restarting your computer.
   • If your computer has more than one operating system, use the arrow keys to highlight the operating system you want to start in safe mode, and then press F8.

3. On the Advanced Boot Options screen, use the arrow keys to highlight the safe mode option you want, and then press Enter.
   
   
4. Log on to your computer with a user account that has administrator rights.

When your computer is in safe mode, you'll see the words Safe Mode in the corners of your monitor. To exit safe mode, restart your computer and let Windows start normally.

Automatically start an Office program when you turn on your computer

                         If you're like me, you start your workday in an Office application, such as Outlook. If that's the case, you can skip a few manual steps by letting Windows open that application when you turn on your computer. Fortunately, do so is amazingly easy. However, every application you add to this process will slow down your boot time, so don't go overboard.

To illustrate this simple technique, let's move Outlook 2010 into the Startup folder, so Windows (XP) will launch it automatically when you on the computer:

1. Click the Windows Start menu and point to All Programs.
2. In the Start menu, point to Microsoft Office.
3. Choose Outlook 2010.
4. Drag office to the Startup folder on the Start menu. When this folder opens to the right to display a list of programs or [Empty], drop Outlook into the folder. You must wait for the Startup item to display its folder-otherwise, you might drop Outlook above or below Startup, and that's not what you want. You want to drop Outlook into the folder that appears to the right of Startup.

 

 

 

That's it! Every time you turn on your computer, Windows will launch Outlook 2010.

                      Moving a shortcut in this manner has one drawback that I find difficult to live with; the  shortcut isn't available via the Microsoft Office folder. If you close Outlook and then want to reopen it, you must use the Startup folder, which might be difficult to remember - it certainly isn't intuitive and this change will confuse your users. 

                     If you want an Outlook shortcut in both folders, hold down the [Ctrl] key while dragging Outlook to the Startup folder (step 4). That way, Windows makes a copy of the shortcut instead of moving the shortcut.

                 

                 Accomplishing this in Windows 7 can be more awkward, depending on your setup. Perhaps the easiest way is to pin Outlook to the Start menu. Then, open the Startup folder by typing shell:startup in the Windows Search control (at the bottom of the Start menu). With the Startup folder open, simply drag (hold down [Ctrl] to copy) the pinned Outlook shortcut from the Start menu to the Startup folder. There are other ways, but this seems the most generic, considering the many possible configurations.