Excel split side-by-side view of 2 different sheets?

[L3Crucifier]

Pretty new to Excel (2007). I have to compare 2 spreadsheets (old vs new) which contain stats and see what improved and what deteriorated.
Is there a way to split the workbook into 2 parts, so that I can work on 2 ‘different’ spreadsheet shide by side and the filter applied on one does not affect the other, etc.
I tried the View->Split functionality - but that basically displays the same workbooks in 2 different views and edit’s on one affects the other, because essentially they are are the same sheets!
Please suggest

 

[ohai]

Open both files in window mode and size them so that they each occupy half of the screen.

 

[smuggycfa]

Open two files that you want to compare.
then click View-> View Side by Side.