This feature maintains a list of about a hundred folders. Then, as you add
more, they "drop off" the list on a first-in-first-out basis.

The key is to have your baseline (default) set the way that it will serve
most of your pages. Close all Windows Explorer / My Computer windows. Open
one new My Computer window, and set one folder the way you want the majority
of your folders to look. Set this as the default ("Apply to all folders").
Close the window. Reopen it and confirm that this one window formatting
worked. If not, you have to force it to take by setting it up right then
holding Ctrl down while you click the X in the upper right corner to close
it. Then go back and do the "Apply to all folders."

That gets your baseline.

After that, all folders will look like this folder unless you have
previously set them to be some other way. You can now customize other
folders. These will still drop off the list, and occassionally need to be
set back on a one-by-one basis, but you shouldn't have to do that very
often.