Copyright: Copyright (c) Khaled Mardam-Bey, mIRC v2.7a, 1995
Citation: none


Contents

mIRC v2.7a

Welcome to mIRC v2.7a, an IRC Client for Windows.

Overview

Installation

Please read through these sections before asking questions!

Menu Descriptions:

File

Misc

Tools

DCC

Windows

Help

General description and hints - Important!

Some basic IRC commands

The Author - Contact Information

Disclaimer - Read this NOW

The Future - Where we go from here...

Acknowledgements


Overview

mIRC attempts to provide a user-friendly interface for use with the Internet Relay Chat network. This version is currently under development and has not been fully tested. ie. it most probably contains bugs. Use at your own risk. Read the disclaimer.

mIRC has the following features:

 Coloured text to ease reading.

 A handful of options.

 Uncluttered display.

 Simple aliases.

 Configurable popup menus.

 DCC Send/Get/Chat.

 Some Basic fonts.

 Finger client.

 Many other useful bits and pieces.

The various parts of this client have been designed with the aim of simplifying and speeding an IRC session.

This client implements only a subset of all IRC2 commands. It was designed for users who do not require the sophistication of a full IRC2 client. That said, it does support, to various degrees, more than 50 commands, and also includes other mIRC-specific commands.

This client does NOT support: scripts, command history, and a large number of other things.


File Menu

Connect

Select this menu item to initiate a connection to IRC. You must have input the information in the Setup window. This menu item changes to "Cancel Connect" while attempting to connect to an IRC server, and it changes to "Disconnect" while you are connected.

Setup

You can enter basic information about yourself in this dialog. The client will not connect if any of the fields are empty. You can also build up a small list of IRC servers that you regularly use. Type in the IRC server address and the port number (usually 6667) and click on Add Server.

Enter the Nickname you want to use on IRC. Alternate allows you to specify an alernate nickname so that if the first nickname is in use when you try to log on, the alternate nickname will be tried. If both nicknames are in use, mIRC inserts "/nick" into the edit box so that all you have to do is enter a new nickname and press enter.

The Local Host and IP address will normally be filled in by the client and are there mainly for your information. mIRC looks up these values and stores them in the mirc.ini file for future reference. This way it doesn't have to look these up every time you want to connect.

If you have a dynamic IP address then you want mIRC to Always get local host when it connects to IRC, so select this option. By default, this option is turned on.

NOTE: If mIRC is having trouble getting your local host, then you can enter these values manually and mIRC will assume that they are correct. If these values are wrong you will still be able to log on to IRC but you will not be able to initiate a DCC Send or Get session (you will only be able to accept them).

If you click on Connect, mIRC will attempt to connect with the currently selected IRC server. This saves you from having to click on OK, pull down the File menu, and then select Connect. If you are currently connected to a server, you will be disconnected before connecting to the new one.


Misc Menu

The main options in mIRC can be accessed and set through this menu.

Options - general options

Aliases - how to define aliases

Popups - how to configure popup menus

Fonts     - some basic fonts

Timer    - Timer settings

Extras   -  other bits and pieces


DCC Menu

mIRC supports DCC (Direct Client To Client Protocol) Send, Get, and Chat which allows it to make a direct connection to another client, bypassing the IRC network.

DCC Send

This allows you to send a file to a user by specifiying their nickname and the name of the file you want to send. Once you have input the nickname and the filename, select "Send" and mIRC will send information to the nickname you specified telling them that you want to send a file. The user then has to accept your send request, at which point the file transfer should begin.

DCC Get

The get dialog only appears in response to a send request from another user. If you select to accept the file that the user wants to send you, mIRC will tell the sender to begin the file transfer, at which point you should begin receiving the file.

DCC Chat

You can use this to talk privately by connecting directly to another client, bypassing the IRC network. Enter the nickname of the user and select "OK" and mIRC will send information to the nickname you specified telling them that you want to DCC Chat. The user then has to accept your chat request, at which point you can talk with them normally as if you were in a query window on IRC.

If a user sends you a chat request, a dialog will popup asking you whether you want to talk to them. You can then accept or decline.

DCC Options

By default, a send request must be accepted by you before transfer begins. However, by selecting "Auto-get file", mIRC will automatically accept a send request and begin receiving a file. It will also minimize the receive window if you select the minimize option.

If you wish mIRC to beep on a transfer completion, select the option. Note that this depends on the settings in the Extras window.

If you wish mIRC to display transfer progress as percent, select the option. For DCC Get, this depends on whether the sending client provided the size of the file when it initiated the send session. If no file size was sent, then percentage cannot be displayed and only the bytes received are shown.

By default, a chat request must first be accepted by you before chatting begins. However, by selecting "Auto-accept chat", mIRC will automatically accept a DCC chat window and accept the chat request.

You can specify the directory where DCC Get receives files by entering it in the directory text box.

NOTE:

DCC Send and Chat need to use your local host IP address to initiate a connection with a client. If mIRC was unable to get your local host name, you will not be able to use these commands and they will be grayed out in the menu. mIRC will not retry getting your local host name unless you disconnect from IRC and try to reconnect. mIRC will always try to get the local host address whenever you try to connect to IRC if it doesn't already have it.


Windows Menu

Windows

The Tile, Cascade, and Arrange Icons menu items work the same way they usually do in windows.

Beneath these, a list of the windows which are currently open is shown.


Help Menu

Help

Contents

Where you are.

About

Where I am.


General description

General Description and Hints - Important!

mIRC has a few bits and pieces, as well as some quirks, that you should be aware of...

Previous Command

mIRC can remember only the previous command that you typed. You must type  /!  to retrieve it. This is useful when you mistype something and the server ignores your message.

Ban List

If you are on a channel, double-click with the left mouse-button in the main window and a ban list for that channel will appear. You can remove any of the bans that are listed by clicking on the "Remove" button, assuming ofcourse that you have Op status. Note that this function sends a "/mode # +b" command to the server to get ban information about the active channel. This means that mIRC has to wait for the server to reply before it can display the ban list. If the server is busy, this may take a while! mRC acknowledges your double-click by printing the message "Retrieving ban list..." in the status window.

Text Copy and Paste

To copy text from a window, you mark the text as usual with the mouse by pressing the left mouse-button and dragging it. The moment you release the left mouse-button, the text will be copied into the clipboard and you can then do the usual Shift-Insert key combination to paste the text anywhere you want.

The limitation: You can only copy the currently displayed text. To copy text from another page, you must scroll up/down to it and then copy it. If you want to store most of the text you see on a channel, you might want to use the logfile/buffer options in the System Menu (see below).

The explanation: the use of colour in mIRC means that a simple text box cannot be used since text boxes can display only plain text (and they also have other limitations). Unfortunately, text boxes also have built in cut/copy/paste routines which are unavailable to a graphic window. This means that I had to code the mark/copy routine myself. I'm not sure which ran out first, my patience or my programming ability :-)

System menu

If you click the system menu button in the top left hand corner of a window (ie. the button you usually double-click to close a window), it will popup the usual system menu but with a few added functions (these vary depending on the type of window):

Window: You can tell mIRC to remember or forget the position and size of the status and channel windows. If they are remembered, the next time a window opens up, it will do so in the saved position. If you choose the reset menu item, the window will be moved back to it's previously saved position. Note that if a windows saved position lies outside the size of the main window then it will open in a default position and size. To force a window to open up in default positions assigned by windows, select forget.

Buffer: You can clear the text in the current window buffer or you can save the text to a file. The filename is automatically taken from the name of the window.

Logging: If you select this, the text to the window will be logged to a file. This setting stays on across sessions until you switch it off. This function is only available for the status, channel, and query windows. The filename is automatically taken from the name of the window.

Font: For the channel, query, and dcc chat windows, you can select fonts that are different from the default fonts in the font setup dialog. The font settings for each window will be remembered across sessions. For the other windows, this changes their default font.

Text Wrap

Text wraps according to the width of the window in which it is printed. If you later enlarge a window that was small, the text already there is not reformatted to the width of the window. Only the new text will wrap to the new width. mIRC tries to wrap lines at whole word boundaries and looks for characters such as fullstops, commas, question marks, etc. at which to wrap a word to the next line. If it can't find any of these, and the word at the end of a line is too long, it doesn't move the whole word to the next line but splits it into two.

Channel List Window

When you use the /list command to get a list of all of the available channels, a new list window opens up which lists the channels in alphabetical order. To join one of the channels, double-click on it.

Saving options

mIRC saves the main window position and all other settings when you exit the program. Note that the sizes (and not positions) of the finger, dcc get/chat/send, channel list, etc. windows are saved. The next time one of these windows opens up, it will be the same size as the last time you used it.

Multiple Instances

Currently, you cannot run multiple instances from the same EXE. However, as a temporary method you can have two copies of mirc, one mirc.exe and the other mirc2.exe, and you will then be able to connect to two different servers at the same time.

Multiple MIRC.INI files

You can specify the name of an INI file on the command line. This allows you to use different INI settings for mIRC depending on the kind of server you use. So you could run mirc.exe mirc.ini  and also run mirc2.exe mirc2.ini.

Other things I can't remember...!


The Author

I am Khaled Mardam-Bey, residing at 68 Melbury Court, London W8-6NJ, United Kingdom. I can be reached via Email at khaled@mardam.demon.co.uk or xhlec@wmin.ac.uk. You can also see my weird and wonderful homepage at http://www.wmin.ac.uk/~xhlec.

Feel free to send me comments, suggestions, and bug reports. However, I can't guarantee that I'll be able to reply, implement new ideas, or even fix bugs. mIRC was created for my own personal use and it now does more than what I want it to do, so I'm quite happy with it. Nonetheless, I will try to release new updated versions periodically and if I have the time I'll try to implement a few of the more interesting suggestions and ideas for which people have asked.

I hope you enjoy using mIRC as much as I enjoyed creating it! :)


Disclaimer

mIRC v2.7a Windows IRC Client

Copyright © 1995 Khaled Mardam-Bey.

All rights reserved.

mIRC v2.7a is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall Khaled mardam-Bey be liable for any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits or special damages, even if Khaled Mardam-Bey has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

This program executable, help file and related text files may be distributed together freely in an unmodified form and may be used without fee by any individual for non-commercial use. This version of mIRC may not be distributed as a part of any commercial package.


Options

Connect on startup

The client tries to connect to the default IRC server automatically when it is run.

Show user addresses

Whenever a user joins/parts/quits/is kicked/etc. from a channel, you can choose to see their address by selecting this option.

Actions are purple

If this is checked, any actions in a channel window appear in purple. Otherwise, all actions appear in black like normal channel text. I've left this as an option because there are quite a few colours being used in a channel window already and adding purple might overload the senses a little bit for some people!

Show quits in channel

Normally if a user on the same channel as you quits IRC, this message is only printed in the status window. If you want the quit message to be printed in the channel window as well then select this option.

Whois on query

Select this to have mIRC do a /whois nickname on any person that sends you a private message. The /whois will be done the first time the query window is opened.

Rejoin channel when kicked

If you are kicked from a channel, the client will immediately try to rejoin the same channel.

Cancel away on keypress

If you set yourself as away (using /away <message>) then selecting this option cancels the away option automatically if you type anything to the server.

Beep on channel message

Whenever anything is written in a window that you can't see, or that is partially hidden, the client will "beep". This includes windows that have been iconified.

Iconify query window

If someone sends you a query, the default is for the query window to open, ready for input. You can select this option to force mIRC to iconify the window preventing it from taking the focus from the window you are currently in.

Own messages are highlighted

If this option is selected, anything you type into a channel or query window will be highlighted.

Perform commands on logon

You can enter a set of commands in this box which will be performed every time you connect to IRC. To understand how commands work, see the Aliases help section. Note, the commands here are independent of any of the aliases defined in the Alias window.

Highlight lines with these words

On a channel, any lines which contain words matching your list will be highlighted in a dark brown. This eases locating messages directed at you or about you eg. you could place your nickname (or variations of it) in this box. Each word MUST be seperated by only a space. No commas.

Notify presence

The client will check to see if the specified nicknames are currently on IRC and will inform you if they have come on or have left. It will pause the specified number of seconds between each check. The minimum number of seconds is 20. You can force notify to check by using the /notify command by itself. You may add/remove users to the notify line at the command line by typing "/notify nick1 nick2 ...". You can turn notify on and off by typing "/notify on" and "/notify off" respectively.

Auto-Op these nicks

If you are on a channel and you have channel Op status, any users that match the given nicknames will be automatically given Op status when they join the channel. Since this isn't necessarily safe, you can specify a users address instead of their nickname, if you know it. You cannot use wildcards.  You may add/remove users to the auto-op line at the command line by typing "/auto nick1 nick2 ...". You can turn auto on and off by typing "/auto on" and "/auto off" respectively.

Protect these nicks

If a user de-ops a nickname in your protect list, then the user is automatically de-opped. If a user kicks a nickname in your protect list, then that user is also de-opped and kicked. If you do not have Op status, no action is taken. You may add/remove users to the protect line at the command line by typing "/protect nick1 nick2 ...".You can turn protect on and off by typing "/protect on" and "/protect off" respectively.

Ignore these nicks

Messages from the nicknames in this list will be ignored. (ie. you will not see them). You may add/remove users to the ignore line at the command line by typing "/ignore nick1 nick2". You can turn ignore on and off by typing "/ignore on" and "/ignore off" respectively.

Ctcp finger reply

The message a user recieves when they /ctcp finger you.

Quit message

The message displayed when you quit IRC.


Aliases

mIRC allows you to define simple aliases to speed up your IRC session. The current implementation allows fairly unsophisticated compound terms to be stored. Each unique alias must be entered on a single line. See the following examples to understand how they work.

Alias Examples

/gb /join #gb

Typing "/gb" is now the same as typing "/join #gb".

/j /join $1

We have now added a parameter string. If we type "/j #gb", then that's the same as typing "/join #gb". The $1 refers to the first parameter in the line that you supply.

/yell /me $2 $1

if you now type, "/yell There! Hello"   the action command will be  "/me Hello There!"    The number after $ specifies the number of the parameter in the string that you entered.

/jask /join $?

the question mark indicates that the client should ask you for that parameter. The parameter you supply will be inserted in the line at that point. So if you type "/jask", a dialog pops up asking you for the channel you want to join. If you enter "#gb", then the final command will be, "/join #gb".

/slap /me slaps $1 around with *2

The * indicates that everything following (and including) parameter 2 should be appended to the command line. if you type, "/slap Sheepy a large trout", the final line will be "/me slaps Sheepy around with a large trout".

If you had defined the alias as "/slap /me slaps $1 around with $2", then the final command line would have been "/me slaps Sheepy around with a".

/p /part #

The # sign refers to the channel you are currently on. So if you are on channel #blah, and you type "/p", then the client replaces the # sign with #blah, and the final command is "/part #blah".

/op /mode # +o $1

To op someone you can now just type  "/op goat" instead of the whole /mode command.

/dop /mode # -ooo $1 $2 $3

You can now deop three users by typing  "/dop goat mike bongo"

For multiple commands we use a "|" (the shifted character near the bottom left of your keyboard near the shift key). So to write an alias that de-ops, kicks, and bans someone:

/dkb /mode # -o $1 | /kick # $1 | /mode # +b $1

mIRC-Specific Commands

Some other commands you can use are "/say" and "/run". "/say" lets you define an alias that writes directly to a channel as if you were saying something. So "/say Hello there" would be the same as just typing "Hello there". This is useful in an alias when you want to ask the same question (or send the same information) again and again.

/info /say Please note that the games server is currently down and will be offline for another three hours...

the "/run" command allows you to run the specified program with parameters.

/ftp /run c:\comms\ftp\ftp.exe sunsite.unc.edu

This runs the ftp program with the parameter sunsite.unc.edu.

/edit /run notepad.exe $?

This asks you for a parameter and runs notepad using the parameter as the filename.

One other command is "/ban". This is a built-in command which bans someone from the current channel using their address as the ban name. To do this, it first does a /whois on the user, which gives it the user's address, and then it does a /mode # -o <user address>.

Notes:

1. If you create an alias that has the same name as an existing IRC command, the alias takes priority over the command (but does not replace it). So if you define an alias as "/join /join #gb", this will work fine.

2. An alias cannot call itself or another alias.

3. Popup menus cannot call aliases defined in the alias window. They are independent!


Popups

mIRC allows you to create two different types of popup menu, one for the main channel window and one for the listbox where users nicknames on the current channel are listed. If you press the right mouse-button, the popup menu will appear and you can select menu-items which you have defined to perform certain tasks, such as Opping a user or joining a channel. In fact, each menu-item is associated with a set of aliases, just like the alais window. However, note that the popup menu-item CANNOT call the commands defined in the alias window. They are independent. A popup menu can also contain one level deep sub-menus.

To understand how popup menus can be defined, see the following examples.

On a single line, enter:

Get Help:/join #irchelp

The words before the ":" (colon) are the name of the menu-item. The words after the ":" are the commands that are to be performed. In this case, the menu-item you would see when you click the right mouse-button in the main channel window is "Get Help". The command that would be performed would be "/join #irchelp", as if you had typed it.

The format of the commands follows precisely the same as those in normal aliases. See the aliases help section to understand how to write an alias.

To create a Sub-menu, use a "." (a fullstop/period). Thus:

Join a Channel

.Get IRC help!:/join #irchelp

.Visit the folks at #friendly:/join #friendly

.Who shall we join?:/join $?

In this case, the name of the sub-menu is "Join a Channel". All the commands following it beginning with a "." are part of the submenu that fits under this menu-item.

And now for a fuller example:

whois ?:/whois $?

-

Misc

.Edit Temp:/run notepad.exe temp.txt

.say?: /say $?

.action?:/me $?

Names

.#irchelp: /names #irchelp

.#friendly: /names #friendly

.names ?:/names $?

-

channel list:/list

-

Join a Channel

.Get IRC help!:/join #irchelp

.Visit the folks at #friendly:/join #friendly

.Who shall we join?:/join $?

The above menu would probably be suitable for the main channel window.

NOTE: You can seperate menu items by placing a single "-" (minus sign) on a line by itself.

To use the popup menu for the nickname listbox, you need to select a nickname before the menu will pop up. The following example follows the same design as the one above, except that it is oriented towards performing commands on a nickname. Here is a typical listbox popup menu:

Who Is?:/whois $1

-

Modes

.Give Ops:/mode # +o $1

.Deop:/mode # -o $1

.Deop, Kick, Ban:/mode # -o $1 | /kick # $1 | /ban $1

-

DCC Send:/dcc send $1

DCC Chat:/dcc chat $1

-

Slap!:/me slaps $1 around a bit with a large trout

Query:/query $1 Hey you! hello? are you there...?

Activation

To activate/deactivate popup menus, turn these items on or off.

Double-Click

You can enter a set of commands in this box that will be performed on a user if you double-click on their nickname in the listbox. This is just a set of commands, not an alias or a popup menu definition! For example, you could use:

/query $1 I have been searching for thee wit (sic) me perishing scopes...

as the entry in this box which means that when you double-click on a nickname, the query window opens up and the user receives the above message.


Extras

The options in this menu are more or less after-thoughts... thus the highly descriptive title. Since there are many options that could still be added, they will probably all end up here until they grow to warrant a seperate dialog box all to themselves.

Notification

Certain events cause a number of beeps to be made to alert you of their occurence. Since this might be annoying to some users, it is possible to alter the number of beeps as well as how quickly they are sounded. The second value is in milliseconds. To turn off notification all together, specify zero beeps.

Beep on...

If you are disconnected by the server without having typed /quit or selected the disconnect menu item, then mIRC will beep to indicate that you are no longer connected to IRC. You can also select to be notified if you receive a Query, Notice, or an Invite message.

Edit Box Size

In single line mode, the text scrolls to the right when you reach the end of the edit box. In multi-line mode, the text starts again at the left and scrolls downwards. It's probably easier to use multi-line mode since you can see what you've typed if the line is long.

NOTE: The status window permanently has a single line edit box.

Line seperator

The default line seperator in the status window is a dash. You can change this by entering a number of characters in this box. You can use a space to have a blank line. You must enter something in this box, if you leave it empty, it will default to a blank line.

Automatic Logging

You can have mIRC automatically log the channel and query/dcc chat windows whenever they open up.

Log and Buffers directory

The directory in which all log files and buffer saves are stored.


Future Work

This is UNSUPPORTED software. I have a life to live!

Feel free to send me comments, suggestions, and bug reports. However, I can't guarantee that I'll be able to reply, implement new ideas, or even fix bugs. mIRC was created for my own personal use and it now does more than what I want it to do, so I'm quite happy with it. Nonetheless, I will try to release new updated versions periodically and if I have the time I'll try to implement a few of the more interesting suggestions and ideas for which people have asked.

mIRC is not meant to be highly-configurable or comprehensive. It's meant to be quick, simple, and user-friendly, providing the user with the basic functions of an IRC client. I have gone to alot of trouble to make things transparent... I hope no one notices.

My interpretation of protocols and commands may not be correct. If it appears that mIRC is not performing a function in a standard way, which you feel is important, tell me and I'll see if I can remedy the problem.

Some possible additions/improvements:

 Script ability to handle events

 Make aliases more powerful

 Hot keys

 Greater selection of fonts

 Ability to configure colours

 Improve/Add IRC2 commands

Oh look, IRC3 is just around the corner...

Feel free to drop me a note.


Acknolwedgements

Acknowledgements - Thank you, thank you, and thank you...

Writing this client would have been impossible without the availability of documentation, source code, and help from many people. Although source code from many sources was used in various ways, it has certainly been modified beyond it's original state. Several months and 1000's of lines of code later, I find it difficult to know not only who to thank but also how much. So, in no particular order, here goes nothing:

Thanks to...

Winsock help files, RFC1459, IRC Faqs, IRC source codes, and a multitude of other documents, as well as all of the source code for winsock and windows programming in the Public Domain, I couldn't have done it without you. I must have looked at a million zip files. Here is a small list of source codes, portions of which were either  modified, were used to understand protocol, or were just browsed to clarify ideas (and in some cases, to become even more confused!). These are the few sources I can remember, there were many more, and listing the sources in the above list is not necessarily indicative of the contribution they made towards the development of this client. I also used several different programs to help me trace/experiment with winsock calls (eg. WSAtest), as well as other sources in Pascal, C, C++, and Basic. I'm sorry I can't remember all of you, thanks!

Peter R. Tattam, whose WinIRC was the inspiration for this program. (specifically, it's lack of an /action command!). It's quite possible that had WinIRC had an action command, I would never have bothered writing this client.

Nicolas Pioch, for his short IRC primer, portions of which were used to write the IRC commands section.

Dimashq, who kept on asking for new options to be added to the program... remind me to stay away from you the next time I code something ;)

Bibbly, whose accute knowledge of RFC's directed me to the one for IRC, saving me from having to download them all :)

Stimps, who showed no mercy and uploaded me a slightly large file explaining hows scripts work...

Viv, may a zillion rose petals land gently on thee.

and ofcourse... the beta-testers and the folks who bothered to send me bug reports and suggestions :)

and all the other wonderful, heart-warming, kind folks who directed me at different people, places, source codes, and documents, discussed ideas with me, and in general both supported and laughed at my humble efforts. Thanks! :)


Sources
IRC II v2.2pre8 and above copyright (c) 1992, 1993, 1994 matthew green.

WSFtp v2.0 Copyright 1994 John A. Junod

Zircon Copyright (c) 1993 Lindsay F. Marshall Jon Harley

Finger 1.0 by Zoran Dukic e-mail: dukic@olimp.irb.hr

SerWeb Copyright 1993 Gustavo Estrella estrella@cass.ma02.bull.com

TinyIRC Nathan Laredo nathan@eas.gatech.edu

Text Server Version 1.0 Copyright 1993 Lee Murach

Winsock Module in Winsock Chess Copyright (C) D. Munro 1994

Finger Version 3.1 Lee Murach Copyright 1992, 1993 Network Research Corporation

wSMTP Server Copyright 1993 Ian C. Blenke

NCSA Telnet J.Mittelhauser (jonm@ncsa.uiuc.edu) C.Wilson (cwilson@ncsa.uiuc.edu)

WinWhois Koichi Nishitani (njknish@mit.edu) Larry kahn (71434,600 kahn@drcoffsite.com)

WSPing John A. Junod  (junodj@css583.gordon.army.mil / zj8549@trotter.usma.edu)


Installation

The mIRC package consists of the following files:

mIRC.exe

mIRC.hlp

mIRC.ini

readme.txt

versions.txt

You can put mIRC.exe and mIRC.hlp together in any directory you want. These are the only required files. I would also suggest that if this is the first time you are running mIRC, you should quit the program, copy the mIRC.ini file to the windows directory, and then re-run mIRC. The mIRC.ini file comes with useful examples and pre-written aliases and popup menus that will help you understand how to configure these options.

If you are an old user of mIRC, read the versions.txt file to find out what has been changed/fixed.

To use mIRC you will need a Winsock.dll of which several versions exist (both commercial and shareware) and a connection to the internet. If you don't have either of these, ask someone about them!


basiccommands

Some Basic IRC Commands

mIRC does not come with a tutorial and assumes that you are already somewhat familiar with IRC. For those with limited IRC experience, the following list of commands should help you get started. Note that you can join channel #irchelp to get help if you are confused about a command.

Once you have connected to an IRC server, you can try some of the following commands:

/JOIN #channel

   Join the specified channel.

example:  /join #irchelp

This will join you to the #irchelp channel. Once on a channel, anything you type will be seen by all the users on this channel. The #irchelp channel is very useful, so say hello and then ask any questions you want. If the channel you specified doesn't exist, a channel with that name will be created for you.

/PART #channel

    Leave a channel.

example:  /part #irchelp

/LIST [-MIN #] [-MAX #]

    Lists currently available channels. You can also tell mIRC to show only channels with a minimum and a maximum number of people.

example:  /list

example:  /list -min 5 -max 20

/ME message

   Tells the current channel or query about what you are doing.

/MSG nickname message

   Send a private message to this user without opening a query window.

/QUERY nickname message

   Open a query window to this user and send them a private message.

/WHOIS nickname

   Shows information about someone.

/NICK nickname

   Changes your nickname to whatever you like.

/QUIT [reason]

   This will disconnect you from IRC and will give the optional message as the reason for your departure. (this message only appears to people who are on the same channels as you).

example: /quit Th..th.. th..that's all folks!

/AWAY [away message]

    Leave a message explaining that you are not currently paying attention to  IRC. Whenever  someone sends you a MSG or does a WHOIS on you, they automatically see  whatever  message  you  set.  Using  AWAY  with  no parameters marks you as no longer being away.

example:  /away off to get something to eat, back in a moment!

/TOPIC #channel newtopic

    Changes the topic for the channel.

example: /topic #friendly Oh what a beautiful day!

/INVITE nickname #channel

     Invites  another  user to a channel.

Channel and User Control

The following commands give you control over both a channel and the users on that channel (assuming you have Op status). It's probably wise not to abuse either of them.

/KICK #channel nickname

   Kicks  named  user  off a given channel.

example: /kick #gb Ed

/BAN nickname

   Bans someone from a channel.

example: /ban Ed

This first does a "/whois" on the user to get their address, and then bans them using the /mode command. (this is not a standard IRC command).

/MODE #channel|nickname [[+|-]modechars [parameters]]

   This is a powerful command that gives channel operators control of a channel and the users on it.

Channel modes

------------------------

ModeChar	Effects on channels

~~~~~~~~	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

b <person>	ban somebody, <person> in "nick!user@host" form

i	channel is invite-only

l <number>	channel is limited, <number> users allowed max

m	channel is moderated, (only chanops can talk)

n	external /MSGs to channel are not allowed

o <nickname>	makes <nickname> a channel operator

p	channel is private

s	channel is secret

t	topic limited, only chanops may change it

User modes

-------------------

ModeChar	Effects on nicknames

~~~~~~~~	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i	makes you invisible to anybody that does

not know the exact spelling of your nickname

o	IRC-operator status, can only be set

by IRC-ops with OPER

s	receive server notices

Here a few examples of the MODE command:

To give someone Op status:    /mode #channelname +o nickname

Giving someone Op status means giving them control over the channel and the users on it. Give this out sparingly and to people you trust.

To op several people:   /mode #channelname +ooo nick1 nick2 nick3

To de-op someone:    /mode #channelname -o nickname

To ban someone:  /mode #channelname +b nickname (or user address)

example: /mode #animals +b Jiminy

example: /mode #tree +b joe@bloggs.edu

To Unban someone:  /mode #channelname -b nickname (or user address)

example: /mode #gb -b Ed

To Make a channel invite only:  /mode #channelname +i

You must now invite a user for them to be able to join your channel.

There many more commands but this list should help you get started.

To learn more about IRC commands you should download an IRC FAQ.

Good luck!


Fonts

mIRC allows you to select a different font for each type of window. These can be changed at any time both while connected or while offline. Only the five basic system fonts are currently supported.

For the Channel, Query, and DCC Chat windows, the selected font is the default font. The default font can be changed for a specific window via its System Menu.


Tools

Finger

This fingers a persons address to find out more information about them. If a user has their own personal address, this will only work if they run a finger server. Most other addresses eg. school, government, etc. can usually be fingered sucessfully, though they will not necessarily give you any useful information.

You can also type  /finger <address> at the command line, for example:

/finger xhlec@wmin.ac.uk

For some users this can be a way of checking if you have mail.


Timer

The online timer is displayed in the status window next to your nickname. You can choose to have the timer reset to zero every time you connect so that you can tell how long you are on for that session, or If you select the second option, the timer will be cumulative and will show the total amount of time you have used IRC since the last reset.