Maybe this will help:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=319827

S.

"Erik D" <ErikD@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:52D14CF6-B747-4148-BB72-5D4E50D95849@microsoft.com...
> Hi!
>
> Amazing how long I've been using Windows XP without noticing the strange
> ordering that it applies when you choose file sorting "by name" in Windows
> Explorer... Instead of sorting character by character (so that
> 561<56k<571<5a1) it seems to recognise numbers composed of multiple
digits,
> so that 5a1<56k<57k<561<571 (just because 5 is less than 56 is less than
571).
> Can anyone please tell me how to turn back to normal intuitive/ascii
> character table alphabetic ordering? This has to be possible to do
somewhere.
> If not, I get really angry on the microsoft ppl...
>
> I know they do it because sometimes you want 1<2<10<20 etc. But everybody
> who really wants that can always add zeroes to get 01<02<10<20, THAT'S HOW
> PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS DONE IN THE COMPUTER WORLD. This is really typical of
the
> microsoft mentality, inventing new things that are not only complicated
but
> also unwanted and then expect you to be grateful for it.
> This is of no good at all - and as explained, totally unnecessary since
one
> could always add the zeroes in front. (It should also be slightly more
> demanding of the computer if it has to recognise long numbers instead of
just
> comparing characters, of course a minor issue with today's computers, but
yet
> moer evidence of microsoft's part in the "programming crisis")
>
> For me this ordering is disastrous since in my work I name some experiment
> result files starting with a three-character shorthand notation of the
date
> the experiment was conducted. Thus, 561=1 June 2005, 571=1 July 2005,
56k=20
> June 2005 and 5a1=1 October 2005. Normal, intuitive file name sorting
would
> thus yield correct chronological ordering of the files.
> Also I was surprised at first to find that after data treatment, the file,
> say, "result12" which was the average of "result1" and "result2" did not
> position itself between result1 and result2 but came after result3.
>
> I'm sure there are lots of better examples yet, because this is so totally
> unbelievably weird!!!
> Please someone tell me there is a checkbox -somewhere- (I have not found
> that place yet) saying something like "turn off multiple character number
> recognition in alphabetical file sorting"!