What refreshing your screen does and when you need it

Refreshing your screen forces your computer to redraw everything you see right now. It clears out display glitches—frozen windows, text that didn't render properly, icons that look corrupted, or a mouse cursor stuck in one spot. A refresh does not restart your computer, close your programs, or erase anything. It straightforward tells your graphics system to paint the screen fresh.

You need a refresh when something on your screen looks broken but your computer is still responding to clicks and keyboard input. If your whole system is frozen and you cannot move the mouse or type, a refresh will not help—you need a restart instead. But if you can still click things and type, a refresh often fixes the display problem in seconds.

Key Takeaways

  • The quickest refresh on Windows is pressing F5 or Ctrl+R, which works in most programs and web browsers.
  • On Mac, Command+R refreshes web browsers, but most Mac programs do not have a dedicated refresh shortcut.
  • If F5 does not work, try right-clicking on the desktop and selecting refresh, or closing and reopening the frozen window.
  • A screen refresh is different from restarting your computer—it fixes display glitches without closing your programs.
  • If refreshing does not fix the problem after two or three tries, restart your computer instead.

Refresh a web browser on Windows

Press F5 while your browser window is active. This reloads the webpage and refreshes what you see. If F5 does not work, try Ctrl+R—both do the same thing in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari.

If you want to clear the browser's memory of the old page and force it to read everything fresh, press Ctrl+Shift+R (or Ctrl+F5 in some browsers). This takes a few seconds longer but solves more stubborn display problems.

Refresh a web browser on Mac

Press Command+R while your browser is active. This works in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge on Mac. If that does not work, try Command+Shift+R to do a full refresh that clears the browser's cache.

Some older Mac browsers may not respond to these shortcuts. If Command+R does nothing, close the browser window entirely and reopen it instead.

Refresh the Windows desktop

Right-click on an empty area of your desktop (not on an icon or window). A menu will appear. Look for the word Refresh and click it. Your desktop will redraw, and any stuck icons or frozen-looking elements should update.

If you do not see a Refresh option, try pressing F5 while your desktop is active (click the desktop first to make sure no window is selected). On newer versions of Windows, F5 may not work on the desktop itself, so the right-click method is more reliable.

Refresh a frozen window or program

If one window looks broken but the rest of your screen is fine, close that window and reopen it. Click the X button in the top corner, wait a moment, then open the program again. This forces the program to redraw its display from scratch.

If closing the window does not work, try pressing Alt+Tab to switch to a different window, then Alt+Tab back to the frozen one. Sometimes this jogs the display system into updating. If the window still looks wrong after that, restart your computer.

When to restart instead of refresh

If your screen is completely frozen—you cannot move the mouse, click anything, or type—a refresh will not help. You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button for 10 seconds until the computer shuts off, then turn it back on.

Also restart if you have tried refreshing two or three times and the display problem keeps coming back. A persistent glitch usually means something deeper is wrong, and a restart clears out whatever is causing it.

Refresh does not work: what to try next

If F5, Ctrl+R, and right-click refresh all fail, check whether your keyboard is working. Press Caps Lock and watch the light on your keyboard—if it does not turn on and off, your keyboard may not be responding. Try using your mouse to click menu options instead of keyboard shortcuts.

If your mouse and keyboard both work but the screen still will not refresh, close the program or browser window and reopen it. If that does not fix it, restart your computer. Display problems that survive a refresh and a program restart usually need a full system restart to clear.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will refreshing my screen delete my work?

No. A refresh only redraws what is on your screen. Any unsaved work in open programs stays in memory. However, if you refresh a webpage, you may lose text you typed into a form that was not submitted. Save your work before refreshing if you have typed something important into a website.

Is refreshing the same as restarting?

No. Refreshing redraws your display and keeps all your programs open. Restarting shuts down your entire computer and starts it fresh. Refresh is faster and less disruptive, but restart is more powerful and fixes more problems.

Why does my screen freeze in the first place?

Display glitches happen when your graphics system gets out of sync with what your programs are trying to show. This can be caused by a slow video driver, a program that is not drawing properly, or temporary memory issues. A refresh usually fixes it. If it happens often, you may need to update your graphics driver.

Can I refresh my screen on a phone or tablet?

Phones and tablets do not have a refresh function like computers do. If an app looks frozen, close it and reopen it. If your whole phone is frozen, hold the power button until it shuts down, then turn it back on.

What if F5 opens a search box instead of refreshing?

Some programs use F5 for other purposes. Try Ctrl+R instead, or right-click on the window and look for a Refresh option in the menu. If neither works, close and reopen the program.