Former Windows user here (glad that nightmare is over), anyway, that type of error message can be a couple of different things. If you are not plugging it into a USB 2.0 port, you might get that, or if Apple Mobile Device Support isn't running at the time you plug it in you could also get an error.
Do you have any other USB devices plugged in (mouse and keyboard excluded)? Unplug them until you get things working again with the touch.
I'd start by rebooting your computer and then checking to make sure the Apple Mobile Device Service is running. The instructions to check that are here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1567
When you are sure it is running, do the procedure AAPL gave you. Let us know what happens.