The Stop button tells your web browser to stop retrieving a web page from a web server. If a web page is taking a long time to grab (more than about a minute if you're using a dial-up connection), you can use this tool to tell Internet Explorer that it should give up on the retrieval operation. You can then tell it to retry retrieving the page, or you can visit a different page instead.
The Refresh button tells your web browser to grab a new copy of a web page from the web server. You use this tool when the web page didn't load correctly or completely. You also use it if a web page changes frequently and you want the most recent version.
NOTE: If you’ve used Netscape Navigator before, you’ll recognize the Refresh button as Internet Explorer’s equivalent of the Reload button. Both buttons do exactly the same thing.