"Maybe if you installed ActiveSync directly after removing uninstalling everything and sync at least once"
Did this already - results nothing to sync with, however connection established and was able to view contents of device from computer via USB connection.
MSO-2010 is "Full Version" MSO-2010 ProPlus 32-bit
Install was fresh install (Custom selecting desired components), vs upgrade. Additionally, Microsoft 2010 Cleanup Utility was ran prior to install (removes previously installed remains of previous installs - like when switching between versions like Student to Pro or ProPlus).
Unless someone knows a bit more about the various association files and how/where they are supposed to be located, I may be looking at fresh install of OS and a reformat
to solve this once and for all ...
Can anyone confirm that MS-Office-2010-ProPlus is compatible with WinXP-TabletEdition-SP3 and ActiveSync 4.5 ???