I would suggest ACDsee
http://www.acdsystems.com/English/Products/index.htm

Its a picture browser with tumbnail & sorting funktions and
muc more (and its quite fast btw - even with biggest collections).

There are other users out which have a much huger picture base
as every shell collector - some use this kind of programs.
Using the same mechanism to sort as with the explorer this tools
should give you a much better control over a digital picture
collection (they are written for it).

>
> Thanks Patty -- and Alfonso PIna, who had the same suggestion -- to use
> Windows Explorer. I downloaded a number of different trial "management"
> programs and decided that they all just add work, limitations and
> complications.
>
> John