At this point the only fix I see is re-installing Windows.

>Ok, yes, I am running as an administrator. In fact, I am running local in my notebook. This morning I considered this possibility and I put myself (machine\user) as Full Control permission right clicking on the CLSID key.
>
>>Are you running as admin?
>>
>>>The CLSID is exactly the same (CD000002-8B95-11D1-82DB-00C04FB1625D) and the file is "c:\windows\system32\cdosys.dll"
>>>
>>>>Try the same for 'CDO.Configuration.1' and also display value of lcActiveXFileName
>>>>
>>>>>I've downloaded your suggested example and added print (?) to expose loCLSID and I've received:
>>>>>
>>>>> for CDO.Message {CD000001-8B95-11D1-82DB-00C04FB1625D}
>>>>>
>>>>> for CDO.Configuration {CD000002-8B95-11D1-82DB-00C04FB1625D}
>>>>>