Procmon is showing me that the apps that work correctly are reading the COM registration from this key:
HKCR\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{8760F575-2E30-4F35-80C8-44D9D77E0D92} Whereas the failure running in VS2013 shows it reading this key and failing NOT FOUND: HKCR\CLSID\{8760F575-2E30-4F35-80C8-44D9D77E0D92}\InprocServer32 So there is some broad confusion about which keys are being searched for COM components. The mystery here is the Wow6432Node and what it's doing in the equation. Now I'll keep web searching. Greg K