[X4U] Desktop Icons rearranging to Alphabetical after every restart (OS X 10.4.9)

[Edward O'Neal]

I have noticed in the last few weeks that whenever I restart my MacBook Pro
(such as I just did in installing the Safari update) that all of the icons
are rearranged to the right hand side of the screen in alphabetical order.
This is 100% reproducible.  It seems to have appeared after I installed the
OS X 10.4.9 update.

In the finder view options box, I have selected "snap to grid" and
deselected "Keep arranged by."

Have I missed a setting somewhere?  Is this possibly due to some kind of
corrupt Finder/Desktop preferences?  If so, what file do I need to delete to
restore it?  Could it possibly be a PRAM issue?

Thanks!