Clifford Wizard problem

I have just bought a new laptop and, as with most new laptops, it doesnt have a serial port. Have any of you guys found a way to get the system running again? I have tried a usb-serial convertor but it locks up when it goes to the interogating system part. Any help is much appreciated.

just a guess, i've never used the clifford wizard. when using converters it may be necessary to install software drivers if the o/s doesn't recognize the new hardware. did software come with the usb-serial converter and did you install it? if that's okay, the next thing i would look at is the baud rate, if thats a configurable feature of the software. whenever i have communication problems between a computer and a microcontroller board the first thing i do is make sure in the setup utility the baud rate is set correctly. hope that is of some use!