If a program is completely unresponsive (Not Responding state), the refresh shortcut will do nothing because the application's message loop is blocked. You need to force-quit (Alt+F4, Task Manager, or kill command).
The shortcut refresh feature is a convenient tool that allows users to quickly refresh their shortcuts, saving them time and effort. Here's a review of this feature: shortcut refresh
| Scenario | Should you refresh? | Why | |----------|---------------------|-----| | A new file doesn't appear after a save | ✅ Yes (one tap of F5) | Force a directory re-read. | | You just uploaded a file via FTP/SFTP client | ✅ Yes | Many FTP clients don't trigger OS notifications. | | A webpage shows old content after a deploy | ✅ Use Ctrl+F5 / Hard Refresh | Bypass aggressive caching. | | Your desktop icons are misaligned | ❌ No – right-click desktop → View → Auto-arrange | Refresh does not realign icons. | | Windows Explorer is slow to open folders | ❌ No – restart Explorer via Task Manager | Refresh doesn't restart services. | | You want to clean system memory | ❌ No – reboot or close applications | Refresh does not affect RAM usage. | If a program is completely unresponsive (Not Responding