WELL I WANT ALL FOLDERS TO BE IN "LIST" APPEARANS, NOT DETAILS! Whether it
be binaries, text, PDF, Word docs, JPG, I want all be in list mode and it
persistently goes back to what Vista likes regardless of List template
applied to all folder/filetypes.

OK, and details view is something I've been using upto WinXP and stopped as
background color of the column by which files are sorted is white with white
fonts, so becomes invisible in my system-wide color scheme where background
is BLACK, Windows enforces white background in this spot disregarding
system-wide setting.
That is a separate issue (now plaguing WInMail also, unlike OutlookExpress).

The fact is WinExplorer forgets view settings at random, and if it doesn't
on your machine, then maybe you're using something Vista programmers used as
default anyway.

The fact is many people hate Vista Explorer.