When you closed a project and reopen it, all of your opened files, position of windows, and other details remain the same because of the information contained in the V12.SUO file. The file is referenced by VSPackages created with Visual Studio, opened by the LoadUserOptions Method, and modified by the WriteUserOptions and SaveUserOptions methods.
The compound extension ascends with each new version of Visual Studio. Visual Studio 2012 uses the .V11.SUO extension.