Baby steps here. Trying to get my laptop to communicate with my MS PNP pro. This is more IT related i feel and i am lost.
I get USB serial connector in the device manager but tons of errors. unable to get my com port to work. Any help here? I am not an IT guy. From what i can find i have a prolific cable.

 

Check the manufacturer of your adapter's chipset (you'll need to look at the packaging):

"Top USB-to-Serial Chip Manufacturers
The chipset is the most critical part of the adapter, determining driver stability and compatibility.

• FTDI (Future Technology Devices International): Generally considered the best for stability, compatibility, and driver support (e.g., FT232RL).
• Silicon Labs: Highly regarded for low-power and high-performance applications (e.g., CP2102, CP2108).
• Prolific Technology: Widely used and affordable, primarily known for the PL-2303 chipset.
• Exar (MaxLinear): Produces reliable, high-speed UART chips.'"
  

If it's NOT FTDI, you'll likely have issues.

At one time, China flooded the market with cheap knock-off Prolific adapters and they worked for a while until Prolific updated the chipset and managed to get Microsoft to stop supporting the older/copied chipsets on Windows 10.
It was possible to manually install the older Windows Prolific drivers though but it was a hassle.
I'm betting you have one of these, they were incredibly cheap on eBay and continue to be sold there.

I've had mixed results with Silicon Labs chipsets.