hi eric,
as u said very right its always better to create dsn thru ur application rather doing it manually, i had already reffered to the article
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q184/6/08.asp
but the problem is in keeping the password, I can't keep the password while creating the dsn as it stores it in registry without encryption if done thru appl.
while when we manually create the dsn ...and if u see the registry odbc\odbc.ini, u wont find any password ???? then where it stores the password ?

i guess one way plz correct me if i'm wrong

1. create the DSN thru appl but w/o password
2. while installation make ur own registry key having user name and encrypted password.
3. now my appl will read the registry and decrypt the password for making the connection.
4. keep one administration option thru which u can change the login and password when needed.

or shud i follow any other way....................