here is some tech op-ed press coverage about MS forcing these upgrades:
the prolific thing hit me as well, but only because i switched to a compute stick which had W10 preinstalled. i understand that there have been longstanding problems with fake prolific chips, etc. but the one i was using worked flawlessly for me for 5+ years. had to buy an FTDI one to replace it, which ain't so bad since it has the NVRAM that lets the driver assign the same com port across boots.
rob