load the most recent saved game (after checking in "my computer" to see what that is)
That isn't necessary.
When you first create a world, the folder will be called 'region1' or something similar. If you embark and then save the game yourself, it saves to that 'region1'. If you embark and then an autosave happens, it saves to 'region1' and then creates a copy of that folder whose filename starts with region1 and also the year and season of the autosave. Playing the game a little further and then saving and quitting leaves you with two distinct save folders.
Upon reload, you'll have two choices when you try and load a game. 'region1' is the one you saved to before quitting, and 'region1 [season and year]' is the copy of the save made at the start of the season. Loading 'region1' will get you back to your last save. Any manual saves will be saved to it, and any automatic saves will be copied from it and have the year and season added appropriately.
Loading 'region1 [season and year]' will take you to the save made at the start of the season, which may lose you work. Additionally, manual saves will go to this folder (making it no longer a seasonal save) and automatic saves will copy from this folder and add the year and season of saving, leaving you with a folder called 'region1 [season and year] [more recent season and year]'.
In short, if you embark on the folder called 'region1', only ever load the folder called 'region1'.