Novice user queston

Whenever I use a Mac - doesn't seem to matter which version of OS - Finder 
shows me the contents of the file system as windows with icons
representing 
the files scattered at random.  I can change the view to show me the 
filenames as a list, and choose how to I want it sorted.

But what I would like to do is set that as a default, so that all Finder 
windows open with their contents as an ordered list of names.   Is this 
possible?

-- 
Graham J