How to refresh a Finder window?

If you do a drag-and-drop, it should appear immediately. I don't know what's going on. To answer your original question, I don't believe there's refresh feature, because it's supposed to happen automatically, on the fly. Try going back and then forward, or just to another folder and then back.

Agreed. If I drag something from Safari to the desktop, it shows up immediately. There shouldn't be a delay. If there is, that suggests there's something wrong with the system. What that might be, I'm not sure... possibly hard drive problems. The OP should try to [repair the hard drive with Disk Utility|http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417].

You could try *Refresh Finder.app*, which gives you a refresh button in the Finder window's toolbar.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/33066
or
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/24714/refresh-finder

Anakonda

Close and re-open the window…

Else, use AppleScript (there is a command to do that, check the Finder dictionary from the application Script Editor).

Probably an FF issue...do you get the problem with Safari?

I personally can't stand FF, but if you love it enough to keep it, see if there's an updated version out.