Get started by Pai and updated by Tye

This introduction to IRC assumes you've never been on IRC or used mIRC before, so as long as you understand the basics of using a computer you should be fine.

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. It allows users from all over the world to converse, primarily through text. You may have seen chat on web pages- You will find that IRC differs a lot from web chat, and has a lot more to offer. The larger IRC networks have thousands of users at once in thousands of channels. (these terms will be explained later)

In any case we can start by telling you where to get mIRC and what it is.

Getting mIRC

In order to chat on IRC, you will need an IRC client- A piece of software used to connect to IRC. One of the best IRC clients for Windows is mIRC. (No one is quite sure what the 'm' in mIRC stands for.)

Please note that mIRC and IRC are not the same thing. When you are chatting, you are on IRC. mIRC is just the piece of software. (more on this later.)

To download mIRC, first you need to decide if you will be using the 16-bit version or the 32-bit version. If you are running Windows 3.1 or 3.11, you probably want the 16-bit. If you are running Windows 95, 98, or NT, you probably want the 32-bit. If you aren't sure, go with 16-bit, it should always work.

Now that you know which mIRC you want, go to the mIRC download page. The image to the right is a reduced view of the page you will find there. Scroll down until you see the long listings of download sites. Choose a download location geographically close to your location to begin downloading mIRC. If one link doesn't work, just move on to another.

If your browser asks you where to save the file, save it somewhere you can find it easily. If your browser has problems saving the file, try right-clicking on the link and selecting "Save as...".

Installing mIRC

Now that you've (presumably) downloaded mIRC, you need to install it. First step is to find the file you downloaded. This probably involves opening up Windows Explorer (or File Manager) and going to your download directory. (get someone to help you here if you aren't sure where your downloaded files end up.)

Once you find the file you downloaded, double-click on it. mIRC's installation program should pop up. It is relatively easy to figure out- If you don't understand everything, then just leave everything at the defaults because those will work fine for you. Just click on 'Install' and let the program do the rest.

Running mIRC

If you installed mIRC using the default options, you should now have no trouble finding the icon to start mIRC. If you're running Windows 95, look in your Start menu. (see image) If you're running 3.1, look in Program Manager.

Start mIRC up, and when the 'About mIRC' window pops up, press ESC. Now mIRC's setup window pops up. Here you will need to enter some information.

1. Enter anything you want in this editbox. Anybody on IRC can view this information. You do not need to use your real name.
2. Enter your e-mail address in the "E-Mail Address" box. It really doesn't matter what you enter here- the address actually shown on IRC is not under your control.
3. Enter a nickname for yourself in the "Nickname" box. This is used to identify you on IRC. Pick something reasonably unique (not something like "Bob"). Your nickname can only contain letters, numbers and these special characters: -_[]{}\. It must not start with a number or -.
4. Enter another nickname in the "Alternate" box. This nickname will be used if someone else has your first choice.
5. Enable the "Invisible mode" option. All this actually does is keep you from getting unwanted advertisements and junk.
6. Click on the 'star' button to go to the server selection page.
7. Select a network you want to use. If you do not know what network you want to use you can choose any from the list. The largest networks are Quakenet IRCnet Undernet EFnet and DALnet.
8. Once you have selected a network to connect to you should select a server to connect to. All servers will bring you to the same network. Try to pick a server that is geographically close to you. If none are available, select one of the 'Random Server' entries.
9. Click on the "Connect to Server" to begin connecting to the server.

First IRC experience

If working through all of the above confused you, don't worry as you don't (usually) need to do any of that again. You should now be connected to IRC.

Once you are connected, mIRC pops up the channels folder. Scroll through the list and find a channel name that appeals to you (1) or, if you know the name of a channel, enter it in the top box. Then press the Join button (2) to join the channel.

Once you are in a channel, you should see people chatting. (assuming you found an active channel with users.) Simply type your own text and press Enter to talk. If the channel seems "dead" or is empty, then you can click on the button on the mIRC toolbar to choose another channel. (the toolbar is the row of icons near the top of mIRC.) If at any time you require help using mIRC, you should join the #mIRC channel.

It is recommended that you simply watch the chat at first, if it is your first time on IRC. This gives you a chance to figure out what people are chatting about, and keeps you from being rude. A couple points to remember- Do not type in all caps (this is considered shouting) and do not repeat yourself over and over (if people do not respond to you, repeating yourself will not help get a response)

Although this section should have you up and running, it obviously doesn't cover much of what to do once you are actually connected to IRC. The next section, Basic mIRC, covers all the basic things you should know.