Wow,

With the amount of detail provided, I'm sure we can all
pitch in and help! ;)

I'll take a wild guess and say you are trying to program
a URC remote that uses Active Sync to communicate. Active
Sync is not used in Vista so. . .

First you'll need to download and install the new Windows
Mobile Device center software. It's really the latest
version of Active Sync 5 (with a new name), and that's
what you'll need for the active sync programmable remotes.
I can't post the superlong url so you'll need to search
microsoft.com for this string "Microsoft Windows Mobile
Device Center 6 (32-bit)" that's the download you need.

2nd, I think you'll also need to access URC's beta for
Vista software. I'm not sure how you'll manage that, but
maybe Jeff will take pity on you and get you in the loop.