Since the Vista era, Windows users have been suffering from one of the most annoying bugs in the history of Windows bugs. It's no bluescreen, it's no random driver freeze -- at least those always have a clear solution. It's a bug in Windows Explorer that prevents files and folders from properly updating until you perform a manual refresh. And it apparently has several solutions and workarounds but no concrete fix by Microsoft -- not for Windows Vista, Windows 7 (SP1) and not for the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. It's still there. These are the symptoms:
- You empty the Recycle Bin, but the recycle bin is not shown as empty.
- You delete files, but the files still appear in a folder or on the desktop. Whenever you try to double click or delete them (again), Windows Explorer keeps telling you it "Could not find this item".
- You rename files, but the old name keeps appearing in Windows Explorer.
- You create a new folder or a files, but it doesn't appear
- You move or copy files, but the file doesn't appear on the target destination. This keeps happening especially on the desktop.
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Again, after a refresh (F5 or right click "Refresh") the files reappear -- or after restarting Windows Explorer or your machine. What started out as a minor annoyance became quite a disruptive bug: The problem is that you forget about the bug since it doesn't occur every time, but only in about 10-50% of all file operations. It's an erratic error that can't easily be reproduced. Here's an example: I would save an attachment to the desktop for later review and when I finally need it, I can't find it anymore. I fire up Outlook again, only to discover that it's already been saved. It messes with your folder structure and disrupts your workflow. I can honestly say that over the years this error has cost me not just hours but days of work, which is why (to me and many others), this can be more annoying than some BSOD or random app crash.
And believe me, I'm not the only one griping about this. It's probably one of the most read and commented issues on Microsoft's TechNet Forums: The error is split up into three parts now with the first two spawning a conversation of over 600 replies and several hundreds of thousands of views. Even loading up the massive thread will freeze some browsers (I'm not kidding).
But don't worry. You won't need to go looking for answers on TechNet. I've got ALL the solutions and workarounds you need right here.
1. Registry Changes
One of the most successful solutions to this problems (although it doesn't help all the time) is to turn on the Windows desktop refresh feature. To do this, go to "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{BDEADE7F-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F}\Instance", look out for a DWORD value called "DontRefresh" which is set to "1" (on). Change the value to "0" (off). This re-enables the refresh. Note that the CLSID given above may depend on your machine. The easiest solution if you can't find the key is to just go to "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID", hit "F3" and do a search for "DontRefresh".
2. Sort by Name
Many users have had success by simply sorting both their desktop and explorer folders "By Name". This suggests to me that the Windows Search API has something to do with the problem.
Obviously this is more of a workaround than a solution and just isn't an alternative for some people.
3. Re-enable User Account Control
One of the first steps I take whenever I install Windows 7 is to turn off User Account Control (UAC). Well, according to this Microsoft KB article that's the culprit of my random refresh problem. If you'd rather live with a few clicks on the "Continue" button than with the annoying refresh bug, I suggest you turn UAC back on again: Open up the Start menu, type in "User Account Control" and hit "Enter". Then, switch back to the default setting "Notify me only when apps try to make changes to my computer":
4. Turn off Third-Party Shell Extensions
It turns out that quite a lot of third-party applications hook themselves into Windows Explorer. If file management goes awry (which it certainly has in our example), it's always wise to check which of these explorer hooks are being loaded and turn them off temporarily: The most reliable tool that helps you check for solutions is Nirsoft's "ShellExView". Download it, install it and sort by "Company". This will show all third-party hooks at the top of the list:
Try disabling ALL of them to see if that solves the problem. If it did, re-enable these hooks one by one:
Reboot the PC and see if the problem rears its ugly head again.