Looks like this is the culprit. By hardware vendors, it looks like Microsoft is the culprit here. I believe the USB 3.0 camera is making this bug more prevalent than with most users, but look at these links.
MSP430 with the same issue: MSP430USB versus FTDI - MSP low-power microcontroller forum - MSP low-power microcontrollers - TI E2E support forums
Hacked version of the driver for low-speed transfers: http://www.recursion.jp/avrcdc/lowbulk.html
Three failed attempts cause the driver to give up: [Solved] Checking whether usbser.sys is still working/polling a COM port/CDC device - CodeProject.
The fact that some users continue to claim on this forum indicates the problem is more widespread than I thought. I have ordered an old version of the Arduino with an FTDI chipset for USB and will use this as a solution.