Total Commander

This is not my idea, but it's damn cool (and was implemented in Dos Navigator): despite current sort settings, put executables (or any other files by mask) on top of a whole list. I frequently jump into program directories and don't want to dig in dlls, configs, etc - I just need to quickly start executable.

Maybe you should use quick search or filter instead? Setup desired mode under Configuration/Quick Search, hold configured key (if it is required - there is a mode w/o any modifier too) and type first filename letters.

Ctrl+F11, Show Programs only.