Vista - Lost Word file from email attachment!

I downloaded a half page Word file as an attachment, worked on it for a class until it was 10 pages and periodically hit the "disk" button in the menu, thinking it was being saved. When I was done I closed the window and it didn't ask me if I wanted to save my changes; it just closed. I went to look for it and I couldn't find it anywhere. Where could it be? It is not in the recent docs, temp files, or downloads. I used Yahoo Mail and Vista w/ Word 2007. It's urgent because the paper is due on Wednesday and I don't have time to rewrite it. Please let me know if you need more info.

Two things you might do:

1. You mentioned you already checked your "Recent Docs" list in Word, but also check your Recent Items list in the Vista Start menu. It may still be there. If it is, just do a Save As and save it to the location you need.

2. Do an Advanced Search of your entire computer. Press the Windows key with the F key.
That brings up the Search page - click the Advanced Search button to the far right to open the set up screen.
In the next screen check: the Include non-indexed, hidden, and system files option. Under Location, select Computer or Everywhere, and in the Name box, fill in the name of the file you’re looking for, or some text from within the file. (After this first search is completed, if it was unsuccessful, do additional searches for any other key words you think might be associated with that file.)
Run the search, and wait patiently while your hard drive chatters away. It may take a long while, depending on how much work there is to do.

Good luck! I know there's nothing worse than losing a really important file!