hi everyone i am new to the forum and no great expert on computers so please forgive me if i seem slow or thick i have a laptop which i am trying to install car diagnostic programs on for our 2 cars mine being a 2000 BMW and the wife's being a 1996 ford galaxy both of which i have bought diagnostic software and connectors for (eBay) my main problem is that diagnostic cables connect through a serial port which my laptop does not have so i have also purchased a card with a serial port adapter following instructions i am told to go device manager to set com port which should be accessible in ports in device manager but it is not there can anyone advise me in layman's terms how to set the com ports the laptop is an advent running windows xp and the programs are BMW carsoft 6.5 and vag-com for the galaxy any help greatly appreciated as i have now purchased 3 items none of which i can use many thanks chris