My laptop computer doesn’t have a serial port. I finally went out and grabbed a USB to Serial port adapter from MonoPrice.com. The actual part can be found here. The model is MCS7703 and it’s made by Moschip, but the box is marked as “Best Connectivity”.

I would suggest you get the latest drivers from here.

Also, it’s important to install the software FIRST before you plug in the device. If you plug in the device first and by which you only install the drivers, then you won’t have the ability to change the COM port or change the advanced features of the device. On older applications your COM port selection may be limited to COM 1 through 4. By default, the device installs as COM 5.