Quick overview:
Have you downloaded a file from the Internet directly to the desktop and only see the result when you press F5 for Refresh? Does the Recycle Bin icon not change even after clicking on Empty Recycle Bin? The problem lies in the refresh setting of Explorer and the desktop - the aim now is to set this setting so that an immediate refresh takes place:
1. First click on the Start menu and select Execute.... In that dialog, the keyword regedit which, after clicking on Ok (or the Enter key) to the WindowsRegistrationseditor.
2. Now scroll through the registration key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Update and double-click in the right-hand pane on UpdateMode. Now change this value to 00 (default value: 01) by deleting the existing value with Del and entering the new one, and confirm with OK.
A restart should be sufficient for the changes to take effect: The refresh rate of the desktop will now have automated itself and will no longer hide any changes.
NOTE FOR NEW PUBLICATION: This article was produced by Sandro Villinger and comes from the Windows tweaks archive, which has been built up since the late 1990s.
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