How do I clean up favorites in IExplorer

Recently, I dumped the “Favorites” from my laptop and an old computer into “C:\Windows\favorites” on my new desktop. They display properly in Windows Explorer, but they stubbornly show in three distinct chunks in Internet Explorer:

folders
internet shortcuts
folders
internet shortcuts
folders
internet shortcuts

I tried to sort by file type & by name in Windows Explorer. I also tried to export, delete all files, then import in Internet Explorer. I’m out of ideas. Any suggestions besides deleting everything and starting over?