I have a .xls file, opened by Excel 2003.
When I open it, either by clicking it, or from a shortcut, or by opening
it from Excel, or even in safe mode, it is changed and I get "Do you
want to save the changes you made to 'X.xls'?" I can open other files
without changing them.

I have a workaround.

Public Sub auto_open()
ActiveWorkbook.Saved = True
End Sub

I would like to know what sets ActiveWorkbook.Saved = False before
auto_open is run.

On a second 2003 installation, I see the same behaviour.
I also see it in 2010. ;)
--
Walter Briscoe