The issue never went anywhere, in fact it became worse.

The driver support for this device in Win 8.1 is really terrible.
No way to set the channel to use in hostednetwork (internet sharing over wifi)
[*]Channels 12 and 13 are non existent (crappy firmware?)
[*]LED blinking all the time (why?)
[*]Often and randomly loosing connection

Please update your drivers!

Does this on Kali Linux also. Randomly turns off. I unplug it and plug it back in and off it goes and works fine until the next random cut off. Several a day or when its not attended pretty well renders the item unusable for many I would think.

I would wonder what the response will be when I ask for a replacement as mine is only a few weeks old.