SOLVED! Wow what a bunch of hoops I had to jump through.
1. I had to "manage bitlocker" in windows settings to "suspend bitlocker" on my drive.
2. windows update>Advanced options>recovery>advanced startup and clicked "Restart" there.
3. On the startup screen "Troubleshoot>Advanced options> Startup settings" then restart again.
4. Option 7 on the startup screen "Disable driver signature enforcement"
Then I logged in as normal, reinstalled the Variax USB Interface drivers and Workbench recognized my Variax.