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How do I use mIRC
(Windows Internet Relay Chat) software?
IRC, short
for Internet Relay Chat, offers a world-wide multi-user chat network, where people
meet to talk in
groups, or privately. Lots of people can participate in the real time discussions,
and the number of topics covered on
IRC is endless. On IRC you'll meet people with the same ideas and interests, and
making friends for life is not unusual.
IRC can host your business meetings and it can be your virtual hide-out!
To connect to IRC you'll need a small chat program like mIRC. mIRC is the shareware
IRC chat program made for
Windows by Khaled Mardam-Bey. It offers a fast and clean interface to IRC and it
is well equipped with options and
tools. You can download mIRC for free!
Instructions for Download
STEP ONE : Download the proper mIRC 5.0 software
Windows 95 -mirc50t.exe
Windows 3.1-mirc50s.exe
If our ftp server is not responding, you can go to http://www.mirc.co.uk the home
page of mIRC
To download the software just click on the above file that is for your platform.
When you click on it you will be asked
to open it or save it to disk. You want to save it to disk. Then another window will
open up and you will have to
choose a folder to place the file into. Now click OK or save.
STEP TWO : Installing mIRC
Once you have downloaded a mIRC, you are ready to install mIRC in windows. During
the install procedure mIRC's
files will be automatically extracted and all necessary steps for starting mIRC will
be taken. If you're upgrading an older
version of mIRC you will be able to keep all your old settings.
Now once the download is completed, you want to close the browser and disconnect
from Chester County Internet.
In windows 95 you go to start>programs>windows explorer> and locate the
folder where you saved mIRC into. Now
that you have found the file you double click on it and the install process will
begin.
STEP THREE : Setting up mIRC
Now that mIRC is installed on your PC and the program group and mIRC icon are available
in the program manager,
this is what is required to set it up:
Double click the icon (shortcut) to start up mIRC. The icon will be in start>programs>mIRC
or in windows 3.1 it will
have a program group set up mIRC.
mIRC will show the Setup Dialog and require you to fill in some information:
In the mIRC Setup select the IRC Servers tab and enter the following information
in the fields
Real Name: Your real name (ie, Bryan Seltzer)
E-Mail: Your email address (ie, bryan@chesco.com)
Nick Name: A one to nine character alias to use on the chat system (ie, grnn)
Alternate: If someone else is already using the Nick Name you you've chosen on IRC,
you will be known by this
alternate name instead. (ie, ^^Nortic)
You also have to select a local or nearby IRC server. A long list of servers is available
by default. Just select one.
Next, select the Local Info tab. Normally you don't have to fill in anything here.
Just make sure the boxes under 'On
Connect, Always get :' IP Address and Local Host are Checked (selected). For various
Internet Providers and PC
setup's you might need other settings here. Don't worry too much for now, if you
get problems later just read the
help provided on this topic in the mIRC Help file (mirc.hlp).
Now select the Identd tab and Enable the Identd Server. Your User ID should already
be filled-in there. Eventually fill in
your Account Name in this field. (Your account name is the part before the @ in your
email address, like bryan in my
case) The system should always be set to UNIX and Listening on port 113.
Once this is all set, click on the OK button to close the mIRC Setup Dialog.
mIRC is now set up and totally ready to use.
After a short wait (up to 20 seconds) you will see some meaningless blurb appear
in the status window. īThe last line
will say something like "End of MOTD command".
You are on IRC now !! Congratulations.
To join a conversation, type the /join {channel_name} command in the single line
box at the bottom of the Status
window. Popular channels are #42plus, #friendly, #mirc, #teen, #hottub, #england,
#usa, well there are thousands. To
get a listing of all available channels you might try the /list command.
When you join a channel, a new window will appear on your screen.
The names on the right side column are those people who are currently joined in the
channel.
The left hand window is where everyone's conversation takes place.
To say things to the people joined to the channel, just type your comments in the
single row box at the bottom of the
channel's window.
To leave a channel, just double click on the close box, which is located at the top-left
hand corner of the channel
name's window.
If you have difficulties connecting to an IRC server, because of errors like "No
Authorization" or "Cannot Resolve IRC
Server name" try using a different IRC server or read the mIRC FAQ for more
info.
For more info on mIRC you can go to http://www.mirc.co.uk the home page of mIRC. |
