mIRC is an
Internet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called '' channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat an ...
(IRC) client for
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...
, created in 1995. It is a fully functional chat utility and its
integrated scripting language makes it
extensible
Extensibility is a software engineering and systems design principle that provides for future growth. Extensibility is a measure of the ability to extend a system and the level of effort required to implement the extension. Extensions can be ...
and versatile.
mIRC has been described as "one of the most popular IRC clients available for Windows."
It has been downloaded over 40 million times from
CNET
''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...
's
Download.com service.
In 2003, Nielsen/NetRatings ranked mIRC among the top ten most popular Internet applications.
History
mIRC was created by Khaled Mardam-Bey ( ar, خالد مردم بي), a
British programmer
A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software.
A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...
. He began developing the software in late 1994, and released its first version on 28 February 1995.
Mardam-Bey states that he decided to create mIRC because he felt the first
IRC clients for Windows lacked some basic IRC features. He then continued developing it due to the challenge and the fact that people appreciated his work. The author states that its subsequent popularity allowed him to make a living out of mIRC.
mIRC is
shareware
Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...
and requires payment for registration after the 30-day evaluation period.
The developer states that version 5.91 is the final one to support
16-bit
16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors.
A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two ...
Windows;
6.35 is the last to support
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturi ...
,
NT 4.0,
98, and
ME. The current version supports
Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was release to manufacturing, released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Wind ...
and later.
Music video released in 2006 for "
Boten Anna" by
Basshunter features mIRC.
Main features
mIRC has a number of distinguishing features. One is its scripting language which is further developed with each version. The scripting language can be used to make minor changes to the program like custom commands (aliases),
but can also used to completely alter the behavior and appearance of mIRC. Another claimed feature is mIRC's file sharing abilities, via the
DCC protocol, featuring a built-in file server.
Starting with mIRC 7.1, released on 30 July 2010,
Unicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...
and
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet. I ...
are supported.
mIRC scripting
mIRC's abilities and behaviors can be altered and extended using the embedded mIRC scripting language. mIRC includes its own GUI scripting editor,
with help that has been described as "extremely detailed".
Due to the level of access the language has to a user's computer — for example, being able to rename and delete files — a number of abusive scripts have been made. One example of abuse was that executed with the $decode identifier which decodes a given encoded string.
The issue was reported in August 2001; even five months later, users were still being reported as having fallen prey, tricked into executing commands on their systems which result in "handing control of
heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offic ...
mIRC over to somebody else".
[Lo, Joseph, ed. (January 4, 2002)]
"IRC News Jan 04 02 Happy 2002 - //$decode trojan keeps going and going... "
. and
"Aug 30 01 mIRC $decode() exploit." IRChelp.org. This led to changes being made in mIRC version 6.17: according to the author, $decode is now disabled by default, and various other features which can be considered dangerous are now lockable.
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirc
Windows Internet Relay Chat clients
1995 software
Windows-only shareware