The K150 is a popular, budget-friendly USB programmer for Microchip PIC microcontrollers
: Includes a checksum feature to ensure code was written correctly.
: A detailed technical breakdown by Eric M. Klaus explains the electronics of the programmer and how to bypass troublesome USB chips entirely using a TTL serial signal .
Look for the Prolific USB-to-Serial Driver v1.7.0 or a Vista-compatible driver.