Where did that file disappear to?

After my previous post on whether deleted files are really deleted, I was asked about the opposite: how do I recover a file which has "just disappeared"? The obvious first actions are to look in other places where you often keep files, in the "My Recent Documents" list in Windows start menu, and in the recycle bin or trash can. In all cases remember that the one piece of information you have for certain is approximately when you last worked on the file, so if you sort the files into date order from the most recent it should be near the top. What I've found A few times is that files do not have the name the user thought they had. It is also possible to look for temporary files and there's a great overall guide in the Microsoft knowledgebase at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827099 which may also be useful to those using programs other than Word.