Vista Tutorial - Explorer VIEWS. How to force one and only one (1) VIEW

Windows Explorer in Vista (as in previous versions) displays a
seemingly RANDOM view selection. I would like the view to always come
up in a DETAIL view with the columns width set as a fixed, standard
width and the headings I want in the specific order I want. From that
I could change it to what I wanted. I know you are supposedly able to
set a fixed view, but after setting it as directed, I find the view
still changes in ways that are hard to understand.

Is there any way to fix the view in CONCRETE so a folder that is
brought up ALWAYS has the view you defined??

There is nothing more aggravating than to display a list of files that
are text files and have the damn Explorer display them as icons or as
a list of files with "date picture taken" and other stupid headings.

Well, first of all, there are 6 basic "templates" that Vista Explorer uses to specify what view is chosen. You would need to check out this tutorial:

Windows Explorer - Folder Type Templates