In Windows 7, there wasn't an easy way of restarting windows explorer. You were able to kill it and it auto restarted (sometimes) but there was no easy way to just restart it.
But with Windows 8, Microsoft introduced a better task manager and a more better way of restarting windows explorer.
First of all, launch the task manager in Windows 8. You can do it either by hitting Ctrl+Shift+Esc or you can right click at the taskbar and select the option of launching the taskbar.
By default, the task manger is in the less details view mode.
So, you need to switch to detailed view first. Then you need to switch to the processes tab.
Here you need to look for Windows Explorer under Windows processes category.
Then right click on the Windows Explorer. When you right click, the first option will be to Restart the Explorer.
All you need to do is to select that option and wait for a couple of seconds, until the explorer restarts.
This was one of the very demanded features not only by power users but also by the general users, which Microsoft finally brought in Windows 8.
