This is the code I’m using to disable refresh on IE and firefox (This works well for F5, Ctr+F5 and Ctrl+R)

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
    //this code handles the F5/Ctrl+F5/Ctrl+R
    document.onkeydown = checkKeycode
    function checkKeycode(e) {
        var keycode;
        if (window.event)
            keycode = window.event.keyCode;
        else if (e)
            keycode = e.which;

        // Mozilla firefox
        if ($.browser.mozilla) {
            if (keycode == 116 ||(e.ctrlKey && keycode == 82)) {
                if (e.preventDefault)
                {
                    e.preventDefault();
                    e.stopPropagation();
                }
            }
        } 
        // IE
        else if ($.browser.msie) {
            if (keycode == 116 || (window.event.ctrlKey && keycode == 82)) {
                window.event.returnValue = false;
                window.event.keyCode = 0;
                window.status = "Refresh is disabled";
            }
        }
    }
</script>

If you don’t want to use useragent to detect what type of browser it is ($.browser uses navigator.userAgent to determine the platform), you can use

if(‘MozBoxSizing’ in document.documentElement.style) – returns true for firefox

Update A recent comment claims this doesn’t work in the new Chrome … As shown in jsFiddle, and tested on my personal site, this method still works as of Chrome ver 26.0.1410.64 m

This is REALLY easy in jQuery by the way:

jsFiddle

// slight update to account for browsers not supporting e.which
function disableF5(e) { if ((e.which || e.keyCode) == 116) e.preventDefault(); };
// To disable f5
    /* jQuery < 1.7 */
$(document).bind("keydown", disableF5);
/* OR jQuery >= 1.7 */
$(document).on("keydown", disableF5);

// To re-enable f5
    /* jQuery < 1.7 */
$(document).unbind("keydown", disableF5);
/* OR jQuery >= 1.7 */
$(document).off("keydown", disableF5);

On a side note: This only disables the f5 button on the keyboard. To truly disable refresh you must use a server side script to check for page state changes. Can’t say I really know how to do this as I haven’t done it yet.

On the software site that I work at, we use my disableF5 function in conjunction with Codeigniter’s session data. For instance, there is a lock button which will lock the screen and prompt a password dialog. The function “disableF5” is quick and easy and keeps that button from doing anything. However, to prevent the mouse-click on refresh button, a couple things take place.

When lock is clicked, user session data has a variable called “locked” that becomes TRUE
When the refresh button is clicked, on the master page load method is a check against session data for “locked”, if TRUE, then we simple don’t allow the redirect and the page never changes, regardless of requested destination
TIP: Try using a server-set cookie, such as PHP’s $_SESSION, or even .Net’s Response.Cookies, to maintain “where” your client is in your site. This is the more Vanilla way to do what I do with CI’s Session class. The big difference being that CI uses a Table in your DB, whereas these vanilla methods store an editable cookie in the client. The downside though, is a user can clear its cookies.

window.history.forward(1);
document.attachEvent("onkeydown", my_onkeydown_handler);
function my_onkeydown_handler() {
    switch (event.keyCode) {
        case 116 : // 'F5'
            event.returnValue = false;
            event.keyCode = 0;
            window.status = "We have disabled F5";
            break;
    }
}

for mac cmd+r, cmd+shift+r to need.

function disableF5(e) { if ((e.which || e.keyCode) == 116 || (e.which || e.keyCode) == 82) e.preventDefault(); };
$(document).ready(function(){
$(document).on("keydown", disableF5);
});

var ctrlKeyDown = false;

$(document).ready(function(){    
    $(document).on("keydown", keydown);
    $(document).on("keyup", keyup);
});

function keydown(e) { 

    if ((e.which || e.keyCode) == 116 || ((e.which || e.keyCode) == 82 && ctrlKeyDown)) {
        // Pressing F5 or Ctrl+R
        e.preventDefault();
    } else if ((e.which || e.keyCode) == 17) {
        // Pressing  only Ctrl
        ctrlKeyDown = true;
    }
};

function keyup(e){
    // Key up Ctrl
    if ((e.which || e.keyCode) == 17) 
        ctrlKeyDown = false;
};

$(window).bind('beforeunload', function(e) { 
    return "Unloading this page may lose data. What do you want to do..."
    e.preventDefault();
});

It works for me in all the browsers

document.onkeydown = function(){
  switch (event.keyCode){
        case 116 : //F5 button
            event.returnValue = false;
            event.keyCode = 0;
            return false;
        case 82 : //R button
            if (event.ctrlKey){ 
                event.returnValue = false;
                event.keyCode = 0;
                return false;
            }
    }
}

Use this for modern browsers:

function my_onkeydown_handler() {
    switch (event.keyCode) {
        case 116 : // 'F5'
            event.preventDefault();
            event.keyCode = 0;
            window.status = "F5 disabled";
            break;
    }
}
document.addEventListener("keydown", my_onkeydown_handler);

You can directly use hotkey from rich faces if you are using JSF.

<rich:hotKey key="backspace" onkeydown="if (event.keyCode == 8) return false;" handler="return false;" disableInInput="true" />
<rich:hotKey key="f5" onkeydown="if (event.keyCode == 116) return false;" handler="return false;" disableInInput="true" />
<rich:hotKey key="ctrl+R" onkeydown="if (event.keyCode == 123) return false;" handler="return false;" disableInInput="true" />
<rich:hotKey key="ctrl+f5" onkeydown="if (event.keyCode == 154) return false;" handler="return false;" disableInInput="true" />

If you want to disable ctrl+f5 , ctrl+R , f5 ,backspace then you can use this simple code. This code is working in Mozila as well as Chrome . Add this code inside your body tag:

<body onkeydown="return (event.keyCode == 154)">

other

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10222116/unable-to-disable-f5-key-in-ie8
http://www.aspsnippets.com/Articles/Disable-F5-Key-Button-and-browser-refresh-using-JavaScript-or-jQuery.aspx