The first mode – is the default one. It is set up in Control panel->Module settings.
Entries on the main page, in category and section view, on the page with the list of user's entries depend on the default sorting.

Default sorting mode for the entries on the main page:

User sorting
Entry date (A)
Entry date (D)
Entry name (A)
Entry name (D)
Entry rating (A)
Entry rating (D)
Entry comments (A)
Entry comments (D)
Number of downloads (A)
Number of downloads (D)
Number of views (A)
Number of views (D)
Entry edit date (D)

Default sorting mode for the entries in section view:

User sorting
Entry date (A)
Entry date (D)
Entry name (A)
Entry name (D)
Entry rating (A)
Entry rating (D)
Entry comments (A)
Entry comments (D)
Number of downloads (A)
Number of downloads (D)
Number of views (A)
Number of views (D)
Entry edit date (D)

Entries sorting on the page with the list of user's entries:

Entry date (A)
Entry date (D)

Where (A) is the first added entry
Where (D) is the last added entry
So, if you select (A), the entry that was added earlier(the first one) will be displayed on top.
If you select (D) the last added entry will be displayed on top.

The second mode – is manual sorting of the entries in sections and categories.
Menu for the sorting of entries looks like this: Sort by: Date↓ · Name · Rating · Comments · Downloads · Views
Menu is displayed by means of $SORTING_MENU$ code

There are also auxiliary codes that can be used for various purposes. Codes output links to the sorted TOPs of the entries. The sorting mode of such TOPs depends on the sorting mode that is set up in Control panel.

$TOP_COMMS_URL$ - link to entries TOP, sorted by comments
$TOP_LOADS_URL$ - link to entries TOP, sorted by downloads
$TOP_NEW_URL$ - link to entries TOP, sorted by addition date
$TOP_RATING_URL$ - link to entries TOP, sorted by rating
$TOP_READS_URL$ - link to entries TOP, sorted by rating