LOST personal macro workbook [re-post]

[MasterOfDisaster]

Every once in a while when attempting to open Excel the program freezes. I battled this problem yesterday and thought I resolved it (by restarting and giving it ample time to open on its own). However this morning I discovered that as consolation Excel appropriated the macro workbook. I found copies of it in several places (XLSSTART folder, trash bin, etc.).

I would be very grateful if someone could give me pointers on how to rein in this rambunctious program and get my macros back. Perhaps I've mistreated it by not fully optimizing its performance, this I suspect because when I open large files Excel as a program fails to start up but when I start the program and then open a workbook it performs satisfactorily. Also, when I record macros they get saved in a module within the active workbook, not personal macros workbook.

Thanks in advance!

PS. I'm on Vista/Excel '07