Restart Windows Explorer the Safe Way

The How-To Geek blog points out a tucked-away trick in Windows Vista that lets you restart Windows Explorer—the file browsing and desktop display aspect of Windows—without hastily killing its process and potentially borking your session. The trick:

• Open the Start menu.
• Hold down the Control and Shift keys, and right-click on a blank space in the Start menu.
• Choose “Exit Explorer.”
• Open the Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), navigate to File->Run, enter “explorer” and hit OK.

Why would you ever want to restart Explorer, you might ask? To try out new system modifications, for one, or try and rescue your desktop from crashing. In any case, the Geek’s method gives Explorer a chance to properly close down and protect against any strange occurrences down the road. Hit the link for details on the “Classic” method of performing this trick.