Computer nerds - please help - Contol Panel View keeps changing!

[Reece]

Thanks Kpt. Munson, I'll check that out, but probably only good for installing new apps not for existing, correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks to you also Perilscope, what I mean is that when starting explorer it always starts in "Documents and Settings\Start Menu", would be good if it started in the root or where I specifically want it to start.
Things didn't turn out very well after I changed the view to "List" then applied to all folders, then went to control Panel & changed view to "Icons", seemed ok until later I opened an app (PhotoImpact), and displayed the files to open in Icons but actually the Icons were previews of the files in the folder, tried to change the view in this dialog (menu view) but just reverts back & changing view "settings/apply to all folders" did nothing to fix this, at this point I saved all my settings (outlook Express etc) & Ghosted back to a version that was only a few weeks old.
The things that go on, I left some cooking frying on the stove & forgot about it untill 30mins later & the three adjoining rooms were so thick with smoke I couldn't see any thing except flames on the oven, a mitton had caught fire & the frypan melted! First thing I did was to run out & turn power off, took a deep breath, ran back in & wet a towel to throw over fire, all put out & raced outside for some air & opened all the outside doors, windows to clear the smoke. What a mess to clean up, took several hours to wash the walls, but even got in the cupboards destroying food that is only boxed or wrapped in paper, and yes a cleanup in here too! Finally down to repainting! That's what happens when you remove smoke detector that always goes off when making toast etc, it's back on now!
Happy New Year.
PS. Forgot to mention I have the flu now!