<blockquote>
  <p>HyperTerminal is a program that you can use to connect to other
  computers, Telnet sites, bulletin
  board systems (BBSs), online services,
  and host computers, using either your
  modem, a null modem cable or Ethernet
  connection.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>But My main usage of Hyperterminal is to communicate with hardware through local (virtual )COM ports. I suppose it is removed in Vista for some reason.</p>

<p>Are there any other tools that functions similar to Hyperterminal?</p>

<p>[I am curious to know even if it is not for vista]</p>

Here are two:
Tera Term
Tera Term (Pro) is a free software terminal emulator (communication program) for MS-Windows. It supports VT100 emulation, telnet connection, serial port connection, and so on.
Kermit 95
Kermit 95: Internet and serial communications for Microsoft Windows® 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT (4.0 and later), Windows 2000, Windows XP, and IBM OS/2 from the Kermit Project at Columbia University, offers you text-based terminal connections to Unix, VMS, and many other kinds of hosts, allowing you to interact directly with their shells and applications, to transfer files, and, if desired, to automate interactions and file transfers with its built-in platform- and transport-independent scripting language.