MySQL++ for Visual Basic

Has seen an ocx for the MySQL++ to allow Visual Basic to control MySQL databases? I have seen a tool on the MySQL site called MyTool-DLL, this does the job but the code is licenced, I am looking at source code to do this if possible!

Securely access a mysql server over the net

I have found an isp that will leave port 3306 open for me to talk to the mysql server, my question is Is anything sent over this connection secure, if not is there some way of encrypting it such as ssl?