Perhaps things have changed, but with Microsoft Word 2010 this is not necessarily true. I just closed a document I have been editing for 2 days. Usually I save every few hours, but apparently I have not been thinking that clearly what with having the flu.
First I opened the document back up and confirmed it was the preedited document. Then, leaving it open, I used Windows Explorer to search my whole computer for *.ASD files and up popped up my latest Auto Saved Document (along with a lot of stuff I did not want)!
When I double clicked on the Auto Saved Document to open it I was given the option of comparing it with the old document or replacing the old document with this. I simply checked a recent correction I had made and the page length to find the correction was there and this Auto Saved Document was 5 pages longer than the old document that I had not saved and so I clicked 'Replace'. It took a few seconds doing this, then the unedited document was replaced with the Auto Saved Document file and I can now continue my editing having lost NOTHING! I am VERY thankful to Microsoft for this!
David