Well…I’m mad. I was working on a model…adding detail to a mesh. I tried to fill more than one face at once using Shift-F and Blender crashed. Awesome. On top of that my autosave settings didn’t stick from the last time I was using it so I only had one extra version of the file which set me back 45 minutes. Yay. Autosave didn’t actually work. I continually tab in and out of my work when editing, and even though it was supposed to be saving every four minutes, the only thing it saved was from the last time I opened the file. That doesn’t make any sense to me. :<
ever checked the Temp directory where it saves in temporary mode? I am not talking about file.blend1 , file.blend2 etc etc, no, these files has random numbers, and one file there is called quit.blend, but check the latest date/time/hour of a file, and then open it 
voilá !
do that, before you complain
it usually works 8)
Well! I’d given up on the project today until I checked back here and you’d said that! Pure genious!! Since this is clearly a feature of blender why isn’t there any mention of it in the interface? Thanks for your help! This is why I signed up on Elysiun!
Actually, yes, it is in the interface. Just pull down the Information window (the one at the top with the pulldown menus).
Down, depending on which version you use the settings are not placed at in same spot.
2.23 and lower: the four buttons packed at the lower left
2.27: the Autosave section, and the path in the FilePath section at the lower right.
Martin
I knew about that part of the interface, but what I mean is, why isn’t it suggested to the user in the interface that the temp directory will also serve as a backup of sorts? See what I mean? You’ve got autosave, and the layman would think that covers what you’re working on, but obviously someone who hasn’t probed the matter more, as I have now, would have no clue to check the temp directory. At least I didn’t! 
On top of that my autosave settings didn’t stick from the last time I was using it
I’ve found that if my settings don’t “stick”, it’s because I didn’t hit Cntrl+U after I set them. That is one shortcut that should be one of every Blenderhead’s best friends.
I think what happened is that that I changed the setting while editing a file, and if you hit CTRL + U while working on a file, thats what loads every time you open blender. I was simply too lazy to save, clear the workspace, hit CTRL + U and reopen. Oh well… I’m a little confused though because some settings save on a per-file basis, and some “sticky”. I’m beginning to think that the CTRL + U trick just saves a template, something aking to normal.dot in MS Word, so that each time you open a new file and save it, the settings are saved with it. Sortof the illusion of persistent settings. However this could have its advantages because not every file you open should have the same settings. If this were the case you’d find yourself constantly using the control panel. It just seems to me that certain settings should be system wide while others should be file dependent. Make sense?
As you get more familiar with Blender you’ll find that a lot more than just the interface is ingenious. Yes, the Ctrl-U just saves a template but the user can determine how dexterous that template can be.
You can save all the varieties of subtemplates you like (I’m unaware of any limit) as Screens, and you can label them anything you want. And if you want subtemplates of lights, cameras etc you save them as a .blend and append them into your working .blend as scenes.
Assume nothing, presume nothing. Nothing, that is, but the fact that the designers were lateral thinkers, and damn good at it!
%<
Thats a really really good point…I only JUST noticed that today. I finally clicked the little white dash up at the top of the screen and to my shock and wonder, BLAM, more flexibility than any other software I’ve used can shake a stick at. I hope the source stays open and that it keeps being developed because this could destroy 3DS Max with the addition of only a few major features. The thing that plagues 3DS max is that they didn’t give enough credit to the users! We CAN navigate a piece of software without fancy menus to slow things down. Sure there’s keyboard shortcuts in 3DS and a highly customizable interface, but you gotta admit its incredibly bogged down. Anyone agree? I mean…even on my 19" monitor at 1152 x 864 3DS Max had little room to work with. Here’s a question though…
That second little window that stays open with blender…I keep getting messages in there like “bad call to addqueue: 0 (18, 1)” and “wrong window” or something like that. Is this a debug screen of some kind? What exactly are these messages?
Ha Ha ha 
If you think that’s crazy, then your wrong…
Once I was working on a game project that was already one week old,
then I was doing some stuff and noticed that I forgot to parent the hand models to the camera(it was a FPS game)… Ok then I unParented the weapon
model from the camera and cuz the weapon had some animations it all
went all over the screen(that happens when you have anims with ‘Loc’)
I got the hand back(parented it correctly to the camera), but then I noticed
that my properties and logic bricks are now wrong… And Then I deleted that
damn project and started it all over and I am working on it right NOW…
Cazy story… good thing that I don’t have to remake the level… 
Yeah, i also get exactly the same thiing and i have been wondering for a while now what it is. any ideas?
d52477001
Everyone has to have lost a piece of work at least once while using blender. Lets hear these horror stories people! I want to know I’m not alone when I screw up!
those are debug messages, nothingto worry about (much), unless you’re a developper or you’re using Python scripts.
Martin
Well thats a relief. I was worried that my installation was corrupted.
I was working too fast just now and instead of hitting W to save I hit Q and clicked quit. @#$@#%@ BUT. The tip I got earlier saved my butt because it saves a temp file every time you tab out of edit mode apparently. At least this seems to be the case! SO…thanks again! I lost the immiate last thing I did, but other than I was ok. Here’s a question though: I’m subdividing edges…lots of them…and I’m wishing I could just select them all and hit subdivide…however, if I do that, it cuts it into quarters along all four edges of the quad I’ve selected. I only want to do TWO of them. Anyone have this issue?
Use the ‘Rusty Knife’ script. Find it in the scripts list at the top of the Python board.
%<
Unfortunately I’m new enough to blender so that I don’t know how to do anything with scripts, nevermind get one into blender. I haven’t read any tuts in that regard yet so I’m not asking anyone to sit here and type instructions for me…I’ve been lazy so you don’t need to waste the effort because I haven’t yet! lol. So I wouldn’t know what to do with the “rusty knife” even if it was sitting in my lap!
If you always close the render window with F11 instead of clicking the close box, you’ll get rid of the “wrong window” messages, i don’t know about the addqueue messages
Huh…well that settles that! Does anyone know how to fill more than one face at a time without creating triangles??
Select the vertices that outline the the shape you wanna fill -> Shift-F -> Alt-F (try it 2,3,4, … times till nothing more changes) -> Alt- J