What is IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and how do I use it?

IRC stands for "Internet Relay Chat". It was originally written by Jarkko Oikarinen in 1988. Since it started in Finland, it has been used in over 60 countries around the world. IRC is a multi-user chat system, where people meet on "channels" (rooms, virtual places, usually with a certain topic of conversation) to talk in groups, or privately. There is no restriction to the number of people that can participate in a given discussion, the number of channels that can be formed, or the topic of the conversation on IRC.

It is possible to chat using your browser, but for those of you that want to talk to more people about more things, IRC is probably what you want. If you have Microsoft Windows, mIRC is your best bet. The 32 bit version should be downloaded for Windows 95, and the 16 bit version is best for Windows 3.1. For more information about these pages, you can go to the http://www.geocities.com/~mirc hompage. For Macintosh users, the best IRC client would be Ircle, and can be found at http://www.ircle.com Both of these pages include FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) and Introductions to IRC that can explain the in's and out's of connecting to IRC and what to do once you're there.