Can't connect to MySQL on Windows 7 using JDBC, but works via phpmyadmin and other admin tools?
package sqltest;


import com.mysql.jdbc.Driver;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.util.Properties;

public class main {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        String url = "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/dbname?user=user&password=****&";

        Driver driver = (Driver) Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver").newInstance();

        DriverManager.getConnection(url);
    }

}

Server version          5.5.20-log
Protocol version        10
Connection              localhost via TCP/IP
TCP port                3306
Uptime:                 1 min 37 sec

Threads: 1  Questions: 17  Slow queries: 0  Opens: 33  Flush tables: 1  Open tables: 26  Queries per second avg: 0.175

120314 21:37:20 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled.
120314 21:37:20 InnoDB: The InnoDB memory heap is disabled
120314 21:37:20 InnoDB: Mutexes and rw_locks use Windows interlocked functions
120314 21:37:20 InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.3
120314 21:37:20 InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, size = 128.0M
120314 21:37:20 InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool
120314 21:37:20 InnoDB: highest supported file format is Barracuda.
120314 21:37:20  InnoDB: Waiting for the background threads to start
120314 21:37:21 InnoDB: 1.1.8 started; log sequence number 1619921
120314 21:37:21 [Note] Event Scheduler: Loaded 0 events
120314 21:37:21 [Note] wampmysqld: ready for connections.
Version: '5.5.20-log'  socket: ''  port: 3306  MySQL Community Server (GPL)
120314 21:38:02 [Note] wampmysqld: Normal shutdown

120314 21:38:02 [Note] Event Scheduler: Purging the queue. 0 events
120314 21:38:02  InnoDB: Starting shutdown...
120314 21:38:02  InnoDB: Shutdown completed; log sequence number 1619921
120314 21:38:02 [Note] wampmysqld: Shutdown complete

rem Execute Java with the applicable properties
if not "%JPDA%" == "" goto doJpda
if not "%SECURITY_POLICY_FILE%" == "" goto doSecurity
%_EXECJAVA% %JAVA_OPTS% %CATALINA_OPTS% %DEBUG_OPTS% -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true -Djava.endorsed.dirs="%JAVA_ENDORSED_DIRS%" -classpath "%CLASSPATH%" -Dcatalina.base="%CATALINA_BASE%" -Dcatalina.home="%CATALINA_HOME%" -Djava.io.tmpdir="%CATALINA_TMPDIR%" %MAINCLASS% %CMD_LINE_ARGS% %ACTION%
goto end
:doSecurity
%_EXECJAVA% %JAVA_OPTS% %CATALINA_OPTS% %DEBUG_OPTS% -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true -Djava.endorsed.dirs="%JAVA_ENDORSED_DIRS%" -classpath "%CLASSPATH%" -Djava.security.manager -Djava.security.policy=="%SECURITY_POLICY_FILE%" -Dcatalina.base="%CATALINA_BASE%" -Dcatalina.home="%CATALINA_HOME%" -Djava.io.tmpdir="%CATALINA_TMPDIR%" %MAINCLASS% %CMD_LINE_ARGS% %ACTION%
goto end
:doJpda
if not "%SECURITY_POLICY_FILE%" == "" goto doSecurityJpda
%_EXECJAVA% %JAVA_OPTS% %CATALINA_OPTS% %JPDA_OPTS% %DEBUG_OPTS% -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true -Djava.endorsed.dirs="%JAVA_ENDORSED_DIRS%" -classpath "%CLASSPATH%" -Dcatalina.base="%CATALINA_BASE%" -Dcatalina.home="%CATALINA_HOME%" -Djava.io.tmpdir="%CATALINA_TMPDIR%" %MAINCLASS% %CMD_LINE_ARGS% %ACTION%
goto end
:doSecurityJpda
%_EXECJAVA% %JAVA_OPTS% %CATALINA_OPTS% %JPDA_OPTS% %DEBUG_OPTS% -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true -Djava.endorsed.dirs="%JAVA_ENDORSED_DIRS%" -classpath "%CLASSPATH%" -Djava.security.manager -Djava.security.policy=="%SECURITY_POLICY_FILE%" -Dcatalina.base="%CATALINA_BASE%" -Dcatalina.home="%CATALINA_HOME%" -Djava.io.tmpdir="%CATALINA_TMPDIR%" %MAINCLASS% %CMD_LINE_ARGS% %ACTION%
goto end

:end