In theory, yes. If you set the View to Icons, and make sure that
Automatically arrange isn't enabled, you should be able to drag icons to
where you want them, and they should stay put. Using Word, for example, I
just choose File - Open and set the view to Icons, and dragged a few hither
and thither. I then closed Word, and restarted it. When I chose File - Open,
the icons were exactly where I left them.