Since my last tune, I updated my laptop to a non XP one and of course suffered the incompatibility issues I've read so much about.

I installed Virtualbox, and it worked perfectly. No need to buy a new adapter or find a old XP machine on Craigslist. You need some computer savvy but really its pretty straightforward. Make sure you give the "XP" system privilege to use the USB ports, plug in your adapter, and load the old drivers for XP.