>>>I ran the code (big thanks you for the suggestions to Tore and Antonio) that returns ODBC drivers I have installed on my computer. And here are the 3 drives I see:
>>>SQL Native Client / Version 09.00
>>>SQL Server Native Client 10.0 / Version 10.00
>>>SQL Server Native Client 11.0 / Version 03.80
>>>
>>>The word "native" confuses me since I thought that the SQL Server Native Client does not work with Varchar(MAX). But I do use Varchar(MAX) on this computer and it works. Does it mean that the first one listed above, SQL Native Client / Version 09.00 is the "old" ODBC driver that does work with Varchar(max)?
>>
>>This post may be helpful: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlnativeclient/archive/2008/02/27/microsoft-sql-server-native-client-and-microsoft-sql-server-2008-native-client.aspx.t
>
>Thank you very much, Antonio.

You're welcome.

I am struggling with these beasts, too, mostly regarding date related data types, so, it's a common investigation we're embracing...