Icon size changes in control panel

I would like to maintain the icon size at medium in control panel (classic view)
and at small in C:/Myname/Downloads. I am the only user (and administrator).

When I set the icon size to small in the Downloads folder the icon size also changes to small in Control Panel (classic view). Likewise when I change the size of the icons in control panel to 'medium' the size of the icons in the downloads folder also changes to medium.

How do I stop the behavior described in the second paragraph?

Running Vista 64.

Welcome
Not doing, precisely, how you tried to change the size, see if these tutorials help.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88515-folder-icon-change.htm
lhttp://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/61419-control-panel-icons.html

Thank you for trying, but the information in those tutorials are not helpful for my specific issue.
Also set "Max Cached Icons" value to 4000 in the registry. No change in behavior.