I've noticed this "bug" also. Here's how I got rid of it. Your mileage may vary. First open Windows Explorer then click on any folder that does NOT have any graphic file types in it. Confirm by checking the files in the right window pane.

1. Click View on the Menu Bar, select your preferred view type.
2. Click Tools on the Menu Bar, choose folder options; View Tab, click apply to all folders.

If you wish, you can now set up folders that contain graphics to either thumbnail or film strip view, which is what I've done. The result will be all your other folders will remain as list, detail or whatever choice you made with the exception of folders you changed AFTER you've applied the selection globally.

Apparently XP tries to be extra helpful and will reset view options back to default without asking you under certain conditions. Why, I don't know but apparently making your global view selection from a folder that does not contain any graphic file overrides XP's desire to default to icon or thumbnail view in folders that contain such material if you want it or not. For reasons unknown this also resets some or all your folders to the default view type.

I also noticed that if you have just one non graphic file in a folder then the filmstrip view option typically does not show up in the list of options. One last annoyance is some icons may disappear as opposed to be "hidded" on the Task Bar. This bug at least Microsoft admits to. I have broadband and a LAN and my icon for that comes and goes at will instead of staying in the lower right bottom area of the desktop like it is suppose to.

One more thing...

If you use Control Panel a lot, you may not like the default new look in XP. Try this instead:

Click Start, when the display comes up, right click on any blank area of that pop up window, then click on properties button that appears. Select Start Menu (not classic). Now click the customize button, then the advanced tab. Under Control Panel, select show as Menu. Click OK.

Now when you click Start, then hover over Control Panel it will display a menu of each of your Control Panel icons. Much simpler to use in my view.

This would count as "advanced" and "not for the faint of XP hacking" but here goes:

Folders like "My Pictures" have special files in them called either "desktop.ini" or "desktop.htt" which instruct explorer to arrange them in a special fashion. Every time I install Win98, Win2k, or XP, I do a search through the entire C: drive for all files named desktop.ini or *.htt and delete them all. Especially in XP this is somewhat difficult as it likes to hide hidden files, but I'm not going to tell you how to find them. I figure that's a good way to keep the novices away; if you don't know how to find the files, you can't mess things up.

Anyway, delete all desktop.ini and *.htt, do the "apply to all folders" button, and you shouldn't have any more problems.