Recently, my browser's "Save As" feature shows my list of folders in a different order than before.

Question

It used to be listed alphabetically, but now it lists them from least recently updated to most recently updated. This occurs on both IE and Firefox.

Is there any way to change the way the browsers interact with Windows XP Explorer to revert to the original alphabetical listing? Thanks

Note: Arranging them in Windows Explorer does nothing when I try to save via a browser.

Answer 1

How you setup the View in the My Documents/Documents folder has no bearing on how the Save As dialog box in the IE brwser displays subfolders offered for selection in a Save operation from within the browser.

Something has modified your registry. It most likely is a virus or other type of malware. It also could be somebody with Administrative Rights/Prevleges has altered the registry.

Does anyone share this system? If so, does that person have an Adminstrator account? Do you think the person, (if tahere is one) would play a prank on you or just allow curiousness to go in and tamper with the registry?

If you think it could possibly be a curious account holder or one who would play a prank, and mess with the registry, talk with that person and tell him/her what a mess your Save As dialog box is in your browser. Ask the person to change the registry back to how it was.

Now, if there is nobody who holds an administator account, you may indeed have a virus or other malware. Run a full scan with your Security solution right away, and when/if any infection is found allow it to deal with it. If there are any infection your Security solution is unable to handle, you will need to make a decison on how to clean up your system. You have three choices:

Go to a HijackThis forum Online and get assistance in cleaning up your system. These folks are very experianced and help others on their own time. You will have to go through a few steps, and they will guide you through each one. The first step is downloading and running the HijackThis tool and posting the generated report to the HijackThis forum you choose. They will then view this report and give you further insturctions. Usually, each HijackThis forum has a FAQ page and an Instructions for downloading and running the HijackThis tool. There will also be intructions on how to post to the forum and upload the reports. It is really not that difficult and is the quickest method of getting your system back up and running.

Take your system to a reputable computer repair shop. Not one of those "big box" stores, such as Best Buy as you get much better service from smaller shops.

Backup your data, then reformat and reinstall your OS. This is the most drastic step and the most complicated if you have never done it before. This is the lazy technicians method of cleaning up an infection, as in reality there isn't any infection unable to use other methods of cleaning.

I am sorry to report this to you. I know this is most likely not what you wanted to read when you posted your question here. However, there really isn't any reason your Save As dialog box should be messed up as your question explained.

In respondingn to this question I used every view option and every Arrange Icons By options before reporting back to you. Nothing in the My Documents/Documents View settings affected how my browser listed my sub-folders in the browser Save As dialog box. The only way such changes could be made would be in the registry. A sript could be running every time you logon to your computer which changes settings. Viruses can cause all sorts of odd behaviors if not outright crashes. People who propogate such malware find it amusing to do these things to others systems. The victems do not find it amusing.

Personally, I would rather it was a curious person sharing my system who inadvetently made this change and can easily retrace his/her steps and fix it. That really would be the easiest recovery option.

If you are infected, you could try doing a Restore Point, taking your system back to a time when it was listed alphabetically. If you are sure when this change occurred, you could restore the system to the state and time before the infection occurred. It is worth a try anyway.

Good luck and I hope you solve your issue soon. Have a nice day.

P.S. I dug a bit deeper into one of my books and found the following information. To give proper credit for this information: The book I am using to access this information is, "Microsoft Windows XP Inside Out, Second Edition" and covers Service Pack 2, by three authors: Ed Bott, Carl Siechert and Craig Stinson.

The standard Open and Save dialog boxes used by Notepad, Paint, WordPad, and many other applications normally display folder contents in ascending order by name, with subfolders appearing before files. It's posssible to make a persistant change in this sort order, howeer. If you right-click within a common dialog box, choose Arrange Icons By, modify the current sort order, and then dismiss the dialog box while holding down the Ctrl key, Windows records the new sort order in the registry (in the ShellState value of the key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer) and maintains that order the next time you open a common dialog box.

It doesn't matter if whether you exit by concelling (clicking Save or Open). As long as you are pressing Ctrl at the time, the system remembers how the folder contents are currently sorted.

This feature, which can work to your advantage if you don't prefer the conventional sort order, but also may drive you crazy if it is activated accidently, or somebody uses it as a joke or prank against another user of the computer.

However, it is easily corrected and restore the original sort order. Right click in the open Save or Save As dialog box in a open area, choose Arrange Icons By, select Name and hold down Ctrl while clicking Cancel. This will restore the original sort order in these common dialog boxes.

Note: The sort order recorded in the registry applies to the current user only, is preserved in all common dialog boxes, excluding Microsoft Office application dialog boxes which use their own enhanced versions of the common dialogs, and ---alas---has nothing to do with the current view. (which is what I mentioned above when I first responded to your question). If there's a way to make your preferred view---Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List or Details, persist in the common dialog boxes, we haven't found it yet. The only persistant change can be made in the system common dialog boxs which also affects Internet Explorer Save and Save As, commands.

Hope this helps, and sorry to have made the incorrect assumption you might have a virus or other malware. It does seem that either you accidently activated this feature, or somebody else played a prank on you. I don't see how somebody could "accidently" hold down Ctrl, while clicking Cancel and setting a different persistant View.

Good luck and I hope this fixes you issue. If not then you should look into a possible infection. If you fix this and then after a reboot you find the problem has recurred, a virus is most likely on your system. (Or the prankster is back at work, lol).

Answer 2

Right click an empty spot > "Arrange icons by"

Answer 3

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Answer 4

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