How do I get Finder windows to hold their settings?

Question

Reading in other discussions, I see some folks are having problems with desktop icons moving around. My desktop icons are fine and stay put, but my Finder windows continually rearrange themselves to whatever random design Lion wants to give them.
They will not retain size, toolbar on / off, arrange by / sort by, icon size or grid spacing etc. For a while I thought I had the problem sorted by leaving the main User window open when I shut down at night, but this 'solution' didn't hold either.
I have worked my way through the View options, tried resetting defaults etc etc, but either there's nothing I can do about it (bug?) or I am missing something simple.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. TIA

Answer 1

I have this problem too, and it's maddening.  My latest effort fo fix it has been to make .DS_Store read only using the Terminal.  This will work for directories that you never alter; I did it to my home directory.  If you do it to directories that change, the results will be undefined, because the Finder will be unable to write changes to the .DS_Store file reflecting the position of the new files.
To do this, open Terminal in /Applications/Utilities, and then type:
cd "/Path/to/directory/to/fix"
Replace the path with the folder you need to fix.  If you're not sure what it is, you can just type "cd " (without the quotes, but note the space after the letters 'cd') and then drag the folder you want to fix onto the Terminal window.  Then press return.
Now, type:
chmod 444 .DS_Store
Make sure you include the period at the beginning of the .DS_Store name.  Press return.  This will effectively lock the .DS_Store file and prevent the Finder from screwing it up.  Your icon positions and window settings will be fixed in place until you make the .DS_Store file writable again.  To do that, repeat Step 1 above, and change Step 2 as follows:
chmod 644 .DS_Store
That will return the .DS_Store file to its original state and undo the changes you made.
I have tested this only on my home directory, which never changes.  Doing this to directories to which files are added and removed will result in undefined behavior.  It will not damage your computer or your files, but Finder windows for that directory will not behave in a predictable fashion.