Thank you for the responses.
Yes I have downloaded the drivers and installed them from the ftdi site. I can download and run programs on the board without problems.
If so, you are done - all the drivers are present and accounted for.
You make it sound easy!
I'd be very grateful if someone could give me some advice on the next step from here using windows. In the meantime I am going to dig out some old serial port code I had and see what I can do.
Thanks