mike fabian <mike.fabian(a)mail.rhein-ruhr.de&gt; writes in xemacs-beta(a)xemacs.org: This is potentially very dangerous. Backup files are turned on by default for a reason -- they provide a bit of extra safety if something goes wrong. You can turn off backup files, but be aware that the possibility of losing data is higher without them. I would suggest taking a look at backup-dir.el. It allows you put the backup files into an arbitrary directory somewhere out of the way. My question: In sample.emacs we have code that describes how to enable auto-save.el. Are enough people using backup-dir to merit putting code to enable it in sample.emacs? I use auto-save.el though I don't particularly like it. Backup files I use a great deal more often.