中国DOS联盟

I find that many people really like and are very used to refreshing the desktop. What is the function of this refresh function? What is the use for the system?
Of course I used to do this action a lot, but after contacting LINUX I changed it, only refreshing when browsing web pages.
I think this is an evidence of Windows poisoning users, making users have this bad habit of refreshing for no reason!! LINUX doesn't have refreshing.

Last edited by 220110 on 2005-12-4 at 10:07 ]

I don't know where the harm of the desktop's refresh function is.

"Leads users to develop the bad habit of refreshing frequently!"

I also noticed that many people do this, most frequently when just entering the system. But I don't have this habit, and I find those people莫名其妙 (This part remains as is since it's a term that might not have a direct standard English equivalent in this context, but we keep it as per requirements).

I also don't understand why many people think this can speed things up

Haha, I'm very glad that finally someone has started researching this problem. I also posted such a thread a year and a half ago.

{13428} Does the "Refresh" on the desktop have an effect on the system?

Regarding the issue of desktop refresh, I think refresh is only useful when the icons are chaotic, or there are strange dots or lines on the desktop, or "color blocks" left by applications. I once tried on a machine with WinXP system, using an old Trident 9750 PCI graphics card (with only 2M video memory! -_-|||), and after entering the XP system, the desktop often had inexplicable strange dots and lines, and pressing "Refresh" would immediately disappear. So this "Refresh" is just simply refreshing the desktop, and it has no effect on clearing the system's "memory garbage" at all.

Now there are all kinds of specialized optimization and memory organizing software on major download sites, both designed by domestic and foreign personnel. If the refresh of Windows could really organize memory, then the designers and engineers of optimization and memory organizing software wouldn't need to spend so much thought and effort to develop them!

Think again, do DOS and Win 3.x have "refresh"? Rarely! I've only seen at most an item "Refresh Display" in the menus of some DOS applications (like Turbo C, Dos Navigator), and its function is just to refresh the screen when the screen is chaotic or abnormal and restore the original appearance.

Starting from Win95, the desktop concept and functions of Windows are enhanced compared to Win3.x, and the "Refresh" item begins to be added to the right-click menu. In systems like Win95, 98, ME, 2000, the "Refresh" item is in the middle position of the right-click menu, while in WinXP, "Refresh" suddenly jumps to the second position in the menu. It seems that this "Refresh" is increasingly favored. This may be that Windows programmers think from the needs of users, in order to have more new experiences ("eXPerience") in the XP version. Novices see that "old birds" like to refresh, so they blindly imitate, thinking this is the "old bird's" unique skill, so it spreads from person to person. With the promotion of the XP system, more and more people start to develop the bad habit of refreshing.

In conclusion, I firmly think that the idea that "Refresh" can clear and organize memory is simply a fallacy! Refreshing the desktop several times after returning to the desktop each time is purely unnecessary and boring small actions!

I can also be considered an old bird. I've been in contact with computers for nearly ten years, and I never "refresh"! And every time I see others having the habit of refreshing the desktop, I always feel displeased. In my own computer, I used Resource Hacker to modify one of the core files of the system: SHELL32.DLL, and deleted the "Refresh" in the right-click menu, thereby fundamentally cutting off the use of mouse to refresh (attached picture). Every time my friends come to use my computer, they always wonder: Where is your "Refresh"? Then I always secretly laugh in my heart, and then persuade him not to refresh. If really need to refresh, just press the F5 key :D. Also, the right-click menu after deleting "Refresh" becomes very short, super cool! :cool:

The above is my personal view, maybe I spoke a bit excessively, please forgive everyone!

Last edited by JonePeng on 2005-12-4 at 22:00 ]

Oh, I've been more than a year behind you in this thing. Others are even more... I need to catch up quickly! Hehe.

Refreshing has another function for me, which is testing the CPU, hehe.
Specifically, long-press F5, then open the Performance page of the Task Manager to see the CPU usage.
The test shows that my Celeron D 320 is even worse than the P4 1.8G...
(Of course, this is very one-sided)

JonePeng
Can you tell me how to remove the "refresh"? Thank you.

Re htysm:

First, download a 32-bit application resource modifier - Resource Hacker. After installation, use it to open Shell32.dll in the Windows\system32 directory.

Select "View" - "Expand Tree" in the menu, then find the "Menu" (menu) branch on the left. Under it, find the 215\2052 branch. At this time, the script of the menu is on the right. Delete the line "Menuitem "Refresh"...", and click "Compile Script" above.

The last step is to save. Note: Since Shell32.dll has always been one of the core files of Windows, the system always calls it, so it cannot be saved directly. It should be saved in another directory (such as saved in the Windows\temp directory). Restart, enter pure DOS, and copy Shell32.dll from the Windows\temp directory to the Windows\system32 directory.

Refresh. I also refresh frequently, but when my old and slow machine is running 9X slowly, I check if EXPLORER.EXE is not responding and if there's a risk of blue screen.

Refreshing doesn't have any impact on system performance at all because this "desktop" is just the interface of the user program EXPLORER.EXE, not related to the system.

But I never keep refreshing the desktop on a PII450+ or NT machine. It feels like people who do this are like when playing CS, they keep changing knives and pistols while running...

PS: Although I also modify the strings in WINDOWS, I didn't do such a cheap thing. When I first used NT/2000, I found that NT's CTRL+ALT+DEL was "invincible", and I could run other programs without the desktop... So I changed "End Task" in the Task Manager to "Go to hell" to vent my dissatisfaction with Gates constantly stuffing rubbish into WINDOWS... -_-

Last edited by fdsiuha on 2005-12-10 at 01:47 ]

Re JonePeng

I have removed the "Refresh" menu as instructed by JonePeng, to get rid of this bad habit. (As shown in the picture below)

Hehe, congratulations htysm!

The way fdsiuha modified the task manager is quite enjoyable, I'll also have a try :D

How to change the task manager?

Probably to see if the system recovers responsiveness, so I refresh.
I usually press Win+E, etc. Then the Task Manager

Does "refresh" clear and organize memory? I heard this statement for the first time..

I'm using shell32.dll of 95, and there's no right-click refresh at all, heh