I started working with ADO and OLEDB only a few months ago, but I got used to creating a MS Data Link to get the connection string (right click on desktop, pick New, Microsoft Data Link, and away you go). On NT4 (maybe also Win 9x), VS-SP4 makes the MS Data Link disappear from the New menu. The solution (KB says this is the way to do it on Win2K too) is to create a text file from the New menu, rename the extension to UDL, then you can right click and click Properties to proceed as before. Anyone else find it strange that access to the OLE DB provider list is buried in these arcane little methods (as opposed to say, ODBC, that merits it's own menu item and program group, etc)?