How To Restart Windows Explorer Without Rebooting

Windows Explorer can sometimes freeze and become unresponsive while other applications may continue to run without any apparent problems. Instead of rebooting you can restart only Windows Explorer.

Method 1

Open Task Manager (right click on the taskbar or press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and click Task Manager)
Click on the Processes tab
Find explorer.exe in the Image Name column
Right click on it and select End Process or press Delete (this will terminate Windows Explorer process)
Click File from the menu and select New Task (Run…)
In the Open filed type explorer and click OK or hit Enter (this will open the Windows Explorer process)

Method 2

It might be easier to have a batch file that every time you open it will automatically restart the Windows Explorer process. Below are the steps how to create the batch file: 

Create a new text file

Copy the lines below without quotes and paste them into the text file.

@echo off
taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
explorer.exe

Save the file as Windows Batch File. Make sure in the Save As dialog you select All Files (*.*) from theSave as type dropdown list and type .bat after desired file name

Now every time you want to restart the Windows Explorer just double click the batch file

Windows Explorer Batch File 

You can pin the file to Start menu, move it on Desktop or anywhere is easier for you to open it.

You should fully restart the computer for optimal performance, restarting the Windows Explorer should be used as a temporary solution before a real restart.