PERSONAL.XLSB does not open when existing excel files are opened in Excel 2010

I am running Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 on Windows 7.

When I open Excel my personal.xlsb opens fine and my macros are available and I can create new macros. No problems.

BUT when I open any existing Excel file the pesronal.xlsb is not opened and therefore no macros and I cannot create new macros as I get the error "Personal Macro Workbook in the startup folder must stay open for recording." I have been trying things all night with no luck. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I will list the things I have tried or checked with no success below:

1. In Options>Advanced Tab>General Section....the box for "Ignore other applications that use DDE" is NOT checked.
2. In Options>Trust Center>Trust Center Settings>Trusted Locations... I have C:\Users\Nick\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART listed which is where my personal.xlsb is located
3. In Options>Trust Center>Trust Center Settings>Macro Settings ...Disable all macros with notification...selected and not selected neither way solves the issue.
4. In Options>Add-Ins>Manage: Disabled Items ...There are no disabled items.
5. I have deleted HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Excel in the registry editor
6. I have deleted C:\Users\Nick\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART\PERSONAL.XLSB and then run excel to create a new personal file.
7. I have renamed C:\Users\Nick\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART\PERSONAL.XLSB to PERSONAL.XLSA

Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions.

Nick