Big problem with FileList attributes of Date and Date Modified

Hello all. I have an engineering app that opens a file list of files that are created by the user. Essentially files are written using Print statement. In another area a user can change data on one or more lines and I write a new file with the lines changed.

A huge problem is happening when I go back and re-open the file. It seems the File List default attributes from W7(and others I'm sure) is that Date is a column heading and not Date Modified. This must be the date created.
When the file is rewritten and file list refreshed, only the created date file is retrieved, not the most recent one.
If I go into the File SAve API and chane the column headings to use Date Modified, then I do retrieve the latest one.
Now, I can personally fix it on my machine when I go to do a Save of the file and check the column heading to Date Modified and un-check Date. But how do I fix this for all my users.

This is so totally weird it is beyond belief to me. I had no idea that Windows keeps multiple copies of the same file.
Is there a way to specify column headings in the File List Box ? Or when using the File Save API?
It seems that these File list headings are defaulted from Windows.