How do I relaunch the finder using OS X Mavericks 10.9.4

Ctrl-click on the Finder icon in the Dock and choose Relaunch (if it doesn't appear in the menu, hold down Option key, then Ctrl-click)

You can also use the Force Quit command from the Apple menu.

But, what is going on that needs to Relaunch the Finder.

courtneyfrombethesda wrote:

Thanks a lot. It was needed because there was nothing showing up in the trash.

I’m not sure what would cause that. I assume relaunching helped?