CNET editors’ review

Reviewed by: CNET Staff

Internet Relay Chat is not as well-known as ICQ, even though it successfully combines chat and messaging without annoying ads. The IRC network is a virtual meeting place where people from all over the world can meet and talk. With mIRC, you can choose from an unlimited number of existing chat rooms based on personal interests, or you can create your own channels with family and friends. IRC is more advanced than simple messenging, so it may take a while to get started. With a bit of browsing, though, you’ll find that the mIRC interface allows easy access to IRC features. It guides you through the initial stages, including selecting from a wide list of servers. You can connect to more than one IRC server at once and chat through proxy. By creating your own channel, you can even set up a virtual meeting with colleagues. This program suits advanced users keen to expand their chat-client functionalities. For first-time users, mIRC offers the most functionality of any chat program available, which can be overwhelming at first–but if you read the help files you’ll be on your way to using all the features mIRC has to offer.

Publisher’s description

mIRC is a full featured Internet Relay Chat client for Windows that can be used to communicate, share, play or work with others on IRC networks around the world, either in multi-user group conferences or in one-to-one private discussions. It has a clean, practical interface that is highly configurable and supports features such as buddy lists, file transfers, multi-server connections, SSL encryption, proxy support, UTF-8 display, customizable sounds, spoken messages, tray notifications, and message logging.