ActiveSync Issue... in need of some serious help

[Deathsicle]

Alrite, i had an issue where my laptop was corrupted and had to be reformatted, before i had my mogul synching fine with all the contacts , email, etc.. Then once i reformatted and reinstalled activesync, not only did i lose my contacts i keep getting this message when trying to select any other boxes on the sync options :

"ActiveSync cannot synchronize E-mail, Calender, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes because Outlook is not installed on Windows PC.

To synchronize E-mail, Calender, Contacts, Tasks and Notes do the following: Disconnect the Device, Install and run Outlook, and then reconnect the device and try again"

I have outlook express 6 installed that came with the laptop that worked before, its installed on the laptop and working fine. Ive gone through steps in troubleshooting and nothing has worked. Ive googled and tried a few steps that some others may have tried and it has not worked either, i tried navigating for activesync issues here and i cant seem to find a topic on it. As of rite now all it is doing is synchronzing my Favorites folder... I admit defeat, pleaseeeeeeeee help

Also is there any way of retrieving the contacts.. if any