I commend you for your interest in Win32 becool. Its how I like to code. You really do have to pay close attention to project setup issues using Visual Studio simply because its so complex and sophisticated. I prsonally prefer using simpler lighter weight tools, but that is simply a personal preference.
Like you were told, you need to set up a Win32 project with no framework support. Carefully check out all the options available when setting up a project. Investigate all the screens. Also, when you have it set up, check out all the options in the 'Project Properties' screens. I know there are a lot of them. I don't have VS 2010 but rather VS 2008 Pro, and with that I can tell Visual Studio to statically link with the C Runtime so that I don't need any other support files for my program to run. A basic Win32 Gui (Hello, World! type) should come in around 8 or 10 K or so, and it should run without any redistributable, as it will only be linking with user, gdi, and kernel. And you should be able to distribute that 'as is'. At least I can with exes produced by VS 2008.