Setting defaults for the Insert Picture window

To set the default folder for the Insert Picture dialog, do the following in Word:

• Click File > Options > Advanced.
• Scroll to the bottom of the dialog and click the File Locations button.
• Click the Images item in the list and then click the Modify button.
• In the next dialog, navigate to the desired folder and click OK. The path to the folder will now appear on the right side of the Images row.
• Click OK in each dialog.

The Insert Picture dialog, like all file-related dialogs in Office, is just an instance of Windows Explorer. To change the view in the Office dialog, open the same folder in Windows Explorer (or "Computer" on the Start menu) and select the Details view there. 

In Windows Explorer, if you have not already done so, display the menu bar (Organize | Layout | Menu bar). Then on the menu, click Tools | Folder options... and select the View tab. Clicking Apply to Folders will set the view for "all folders of this type" to the current setting.

I'm leery of doing this because I'm not sure what "all folders of this type" means. I do prefer Details view in folders of data files, but I prefer medium or large icons for graphics so I can more easily select the one I want (except when I'm selecting the most recently saved screen shot in the Snagit Catalog folder, in which case I sort the view by date to bring that file to the top in a list view).