By default, Microsoft Excel 2010 and 2013 creates backup copies of your workbooks when you open an Excel workbook and periodically while you edit, saving these in the default storage folder. You can disable the automatic backups to save disk space, but if your computer crashes or you close Excel without saving your work, you will not be able to recover the data. Furthermore, if your Excel document becomes corrupted, you will not be able to restore it. You can disable automatic backups in Word or PowerPoint as well.
Disabling Backups in Excel
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Click "File" in Excel 2010 or 2013 and choose "Options" to display the Excel Options window. Click the "Save" tab and then uncheck the "Save AutoRecover information every" box to disable automatic backups. Use the same procedure to disable the backups in Word and PowerPoint 2013. Click "OK" to apply the new settings immediately.
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To stop Excel from creating and updating a second file -- named "Backup of File_Name.xlk" -- in the same folder every time you save or close the workbook, press "F12" to display the Save As window, click "Tools," select "General Options" and uncheck the "Always create backup" box. Optionally, you can set a password to open or modify the document from the General Options dialog box. Click "OK."