I had purchased USB to Serial converter for programmer.
First of all that product didnt have any driver for
Vista. I somehow installed it and then the nightmare
started. System would hang (!) or the program will
say that target uC isnt present. I checked for solution
on Google and other forims. Downloaded and installed
many patches. But still the programmer doesnt run.
I can however run the Hyperterminal and check serial
functioning by echo. I later found it to be some
mismatch in Vista protocol. The same adapter runs OK
on system with XP, XP+Sp3.

I now see that ELEKTOR magazine of UK has such project
in June 2004.
http://www.elektor.com/magazines/2004/june/multi-programmer.56970.lynkx