Windows XP introduced a different ordering method when sorting numeric file listings in Windows Explorer. Instead of sorting character-by-character in the file name, any numeric string is now handled as a number.

If you have folders whose name contains digits, the sort order is different in Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP. In Windows 2000, the following file and folder names are sorted as shown:

Ie4_01
Ie4_128
Ie401sp2
Ie5
Ie501sp2
Ie6

In Windows XP, the same files and folders are sorted as:

Ie4_01
Ie4_128
Ie5
Ie6
Ie401sp2
Ie501sp2

To change this behaviour, follow the next steps:

1. Open the Registry Editor click on the Start button on your taskbar, then click on Run and type "regedit" and click on OK to start the regedit utility.
    
2. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer (see picture 1).
   
   

   Picture 1

3. Create a new DWORD value named "NoStrCmpLogical" and set it to "1" to use the Windows 2000 sorting method.
    
4. The modifications you made will be in effect after you reboot your PC.

Note: This tweak is available only with Windows XP Service Pack 1 or greater installed on the system.