Hi Merch
Your post is a little confusing. You say, for example, that D190 contains D183<>E183.
Does it actually contains =D183<>183? This would return True or False as the cell value. If it contains D183<>E183, without the equals sign, Excel will treat this as text and will copy it verbatim. If the formula is =D183<>E183, then Excel will definitely amend the formula if you copy it to another cell. If there is a dollar sign in front of the column or row, then Excel will fix that value when you copy it. If there is a dollar in front of both the column and row, Excel will copy the formula without modification.
On the other hand, you are asking about conditional formatting. Is the formula =D183<>E183 your condition? Are you trying to apply conditional formatting to a range of cells such that the format for D183 is set by D183<>E183, the format for D184 is set by D184<>E184 etc? If so, then simply select all of the cells first then enter the conditional format.
Hope that helps
Regards
Simon