Harry, Microsoft flip-flopped on the whole ADO/DAO thing. First, DAO was the standard. Then with Access XP or 2003 (I can't remember which) they switch to ADO as the default. Now it's back to DAO as the default. This is why I've always gotten in the habit of just moving the DAO reference FIRST no matter which version I'm using.

If you're working with a linked SQL SERVER table in your Access database, then YES, you can use DAO to access it. If you're connecting directly to the server, then you have to use ADO.

I've personally only encountered the flicker issue with Access 2003 running under Vista. If you have 2003 under XP or earlier you're fine. If you have Vista, use Access 2007 and you're fine. Other than that, I can't say. In my office, I use Access 2000 with Windows 2000 for my customer database (rock solid and stable, even though lacking in some features). For new databases and development I've been using Access 2007 under Vista with few complaints. But you see, I waited over a YEAR after both Access 2007 and Vista were released to start using them. Let someone ELSE find the bugs.