Whenever you make certain tweaks to Windows (change to file type icons, change of system fonts, etc.), they may not take effect until the system is ‘refreshed’ which is typically done via a reboot. Instead you can force a refresh of the Windows state using the multi-tool NirCmd. Two commands it supports are:
shellrefresh
Initiate a general refersh for Windows Explorer. This refresh command can be useful if you make a change in the Registry related to the shell file types (For example, if you change the icon of .gif extension), and you want that your changes will take affect immediately.
sysrefresh
Initiate a general system refresh. You can use this command to refresh your system after changing your system settings in the Registry (e.g: changing desktop icons size, environment variables, and so on..)
So by running the following 2 commands:
nircmd shellrefresh
nircmd sysrefresh
You can force Windows to refresh itself and avoid needing to reboot. Of course, this will not work for everything but it is worth a shot.
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