Remember folders' settings and view options in Windows Vista
Windows Vista will by default display certain folder views on your computer, and base the organization, view, and fields on what it thinks the folder contains. This means that, in effect, Vista is resetting folder view settings you may have customized, like sort order, additional custom fields, etc. But you can customize folders' behavior so that they remember the configuration you applied to each of them. This tutorial shows you how to force Windows Vista to remember the folder settings and options for all your folders.
Remembering folder view settings
Start by opening Windows Explorer, either by holding down the Windows logo key and pressing E (as in Explorer), or by right-clicking on the Start button and choosing Explore.
From the Windows Explorer window that opens, click on the Organize menu, and choose Folder and Search Options.
Windows Vista will launch the Folder Options dialog, that centralizes under a single location most options and settings available to folders and Windows Explorer. Click on the View tab:
Under Advanced Settings, scroll until you an option near the bottom that reads "Remember each folder's view settings": check that checkbox and click OK to apply the changes. From now on, Windows Vista will remember how each folder was customized, the custom sort order, fields, etc.
Folder templates and predefined views
Since you are now in control of the appearance, sort, and view of each folder, you can customize these parameters for each folder, depending on what you want to do with each folder.
A later tutorial will show you how to customize a folder's template, a new way of dealing with folders introduced with Windows Vista: by associating certain folders with a content type or template, you can instruct Vista to always display a folder's content a certain way, or using certain views (like Extra Large Icons, Large Icons, Medium Icons, Small Icons, List, Details, or Tiles).
As far as individual folders' persistent customization, this tutorial covered it.