phantom excel file

each time I access any excel file, a phantom file appears, momentarily named "2EXCEL7_OLD.REG", then the accessed file appears and both remain listed in the 'windows" drop-down screen. The contents of the file appear to be suftware code.I have extensively used excel from the "ms office suite for windows 95". It worked fine. later I upgrated to "windows 98". It also worked fine. Then I upgraded to "ms windows xp home edition", and the phantom file appeared. I read somewhere that to beware that xp sometimes will corrupt older versions of office and/or excel. Recently, I upgraded to "ms office xp professional",and the phantom file still persists.I located the phantom file by search and deleted it, but it came back. So far, there have been no obvious negative effects on my programs, but one cannot be sure. Has this phantom fild caused damage? should it be removed? how can I remove it?

 

Could you be referring to the temporary copy of the excel file? I think this would only be visible if you have enabled "show system files and folders". A temporary copy of a file is used by MS Office when you have it opened. The temporary file is usually purged once you close the application.