A curious thing just happened, or I just noticed it. I have View set to list, but suddenly the lists are in reverse alphabetical order, and I can't figure out how they got that way or how to restore them to A first. I consulted Help, but didn't find what I'm looking for. Any clues?
BTW, I use OS 8.5.1 on an iMac.
I'm still running OS 8.1, but I think I can help.
If you're in Finder, at the top right-hand corner of the folder (when it's open) there is a little arrow. If it's pointing down, the list is in reverse alphabetical order. Click on it and it should switch back to descending.
Click the little triangle at the top of the vertical scroll bar.