 ODBC connector works as a standard gateway for programming languages,

applications (such as Excel, Access, or OpenOffice) to communicate with database

server with ease.
 The database behind ODBC Connector could be MySQL, Microsoft SQL,
PostgreSQL, Microsoft Access, or FileMaker, and more. You do not have to input the
direct connection string into the code. You just need to know how to contact to ODBC
Connector in a very simple way; especially, Delphi even makes it simpler with a few
clicks.
You could see the usage of MySQL in these two cases.
 The first case is to connect to a local MySQL Server. It means you have MySQL
Server running on your local computer.

In this case, the grant permission command is not necessary because MySQL allows
localhost (127.0.0.1) to connect by default.

 The second case is to connect to a remote MySQL Server. In this case, you want to
connect to a remote machine where MySQL is running. Sometimes, we need to access
to a remote MySQL to do some automatic tasks, such as maintaining database,
checking database, or updating a WordPress blog using an auto web crawler
application. If you want to run an application on one server and access database on
another server, this case can be used.
In this case, the administrator on the machine 192.168.11.130 must execute the GRANT
command. More about GRANT command in MySQL.

Which version should I go?

As this time of writing, there are two public versions of MySQL Connectors, 3.51 and 5.1.
Both versions support Windows from XP to 7 32 bit to 64 bit.

SUMMAR STEPS:

How to install ODBC Connector for MySQL in details

The easiest way to install MySQL ODBC Drivers on Windows is to use MSI Package. MSI
package supports both Windows 32 bit and 64 bit.

Step 1. Download MySQL Connectors

 Now, we start the first step is to go to this URL

http://www.mysql.com/downloads/connector/odbc/3.51.html#downloads
 Select Microsoft Windows as the platform.
 Select Windows (x86, 64-bit), MSI Installer
 Connector-ODBC if you have 64 bit operating system, otherwise, select 32 bit.
 Click Download.
 Simply click “No thanks, just take me to the downloads!” if MySQL ask you to
register an account.

Step 2. Install MySQL Connectors on your Windows

 Double click on the file “mysql-connector-odbc-3.51.30-winx64.msi” that you just

downloaded to run the setup process.
 Click Next and accept the license agreement.
 Select Custom to see what we will have after the installation
 The package MySQL 64 bit allows you to install both 32 and 64 bit Connector. This is
just an optional option, you could click Next now to continue another step.