icons remain after files are deleted in MATE/caja

[GNUser]

I've been having this pesky issue where icons of deleted files don't disappear. It happens both on my Desktop as well as in the caja file manager. I notice it on a daily basis, usually when using applications that create short-lived temporary files (e.g., gvim and 7z). If I click on the icon and try to delete it, I get an error message saying the file doesn't exist. The only way to make these "ghost" icons disappear is open up a terminal and type "killall caja", which causes caja to restart itself.

I'm not sure how to troubleshoot this. Any ideas? I'm on Stretch with MATE 1.16.2 and caja 1.16.6-1+deb9u1

[debiman]

are these files and directories on a local hard drive?

[GNUser]

Yes.

I discovered that pressing F5 causes caja to refresh, which makes the deleted files' icons disappear. This is a next-best solution short of preventing the icons from lingering in the first place.

[bw123]

I don't use desktop icons, never liked it, never will... widgets, or docks are better alternatives IMNSHO.

I can understand having to refresh the filemanager when something else deletes a file, but why would short-lived files like this appear on the desktop? Are you extracting an archive into a ~/Desktop folder or something?