An Idiots Guide to mIRC?

[k thx 0]

Okay, I've heard good shit about mIRC and that its the best place to download rare shit, but any time I've tried to use it to download, I get scared and confused and end up giving up hope. I looked at a few old threds here, but the guide people were giving out was a dead link. Does anybody have or know of a really simple guide to downloading stuff and getting set up on mIRC?

[Guest KJ Brackish]

BUMP~!

 

The only reason I'm doing this is because I am an idiot at mIRC, as far as downloading stuff. I can get into the rooms, but come to downloading...... I SUCK.

 

KJ

[razazteca 0]

FAQ

FAQ2

[NoCalMike 0]

I am not sure if mIRC is great for "rare" stuff. However it is one of the better sources to download in general. I have had some superfast connection speeds.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

All right, here I go:

 

 

mIRC is just an application to use IRC, a protocol supported by many chat programs. mIRC is the most commonly-used application for this, but saying you're "downloading stuff from mIRC" is like saying "I'm surfing the Internet Explorer."

 

IRC operates usually on a number of networks, with some massive ones (DALnet, EFnet, etc) and a lot of smaller ones. Each network has a number of machines location all over that talk to one another to let you converse with people on other servers, and in the olden days you wanted to choose one of the servers nearest you. In the day and age of broadband though, whatever server simply isn't jammed full of users is a blessing. Choosing one at random is more likely to get you online than choosing your local link in the chain.

 

Sometimes the chain breaks, and you'll see what looks like a bunch of people all logging off at one time. They haven't turned their computers off all at once and done something else, they're just on another piece of the chain that isn't linked up to yours (one time I watched a split where it was my server that broke from the chain, and I watched EVERYONE in a crowded room log off at once, leaving me with only one other guy to talk to, who was using the same server I was.) This is typically called a netsplit, and eventually the connections will be automatically re-established, and you'll see all those people come flooding back into the channel

 

In each of these networks there's a number of chat channels. Could be one or two or it could be millions. Some networks have bots with names like ChanServ and NickServ that basically maintain the place so that you can "own" your channel or have exclusive rights to your handle. See the homepage of the network you're logging into for details on what it has.

 

IRC users can transfer files to one another through DCC (I think it stands for Direct Cable Connection, but I wouldn't money on it). Basically it allows you to send and receive files from one another. You can only get a file from one person at a time (instead of cluster downloading one file from a dozen people on Kazaa.)

 

I'm not going to to tell you where to go to "download rare stuff." However, assuming you get to where you want, getting the file could be accomplished any number of ways. Usually through FServ's. An FServ is a script the server is running on his copy of mIRC that's a file server (or fserv. Get it?) Sometimes the servers are spamming an advertisement every few seconds telling you what's on them, how to contact them, how many people are in line, and it's average speed, or whatever else. Some channels want to cut down on the spam and tell everyone running a server to recognize a command in the chatroom (say "!fservs" or something equally unique) and have them private message you the adverts.

 

While FServs may vary, the most common type is one that tells you to send it a private message with a command in it. You'll then be shot back an invitation to a private chat. Accept this chat and the script will introduce itself and leave you to give it commands. It's sort of like DOS (you'll notice dir and CD commands usually appear, although some FServs have interfaces that assign a number to everying and you just tell it what you want by typing in it's number.)

 

Me> dir

Script> Directory listings of /

Script> SAMPLE <folder>

Me> cd SAMPLE

Script> [/sAMPLE/]

Me> dir

Script> Directory listings of /SAMPLE/

Script> SAMPLE.TXT 94K <file>

Me> get SAMPLE.TXT

Script> Sending file SAMPLE.TXT

 

At this point, you'll get a prompt asking you if you want to receive the file.

This is assuming nobody else is using the script to get anything themselves though. In most busy channels, and on most servers with files people want to get, this isn't the case. Instead you'll see:

 

Me> get SAMPLE.txt

Script> You have been played in slot 12 in the queue. The file will be sent to you when ready.

 

Uhoh.

 

Me> sends

Script> Currently sending 1 file (filename.___) to username

 

Looks like the script only sends one file at a time. If I wanted to, I could type in "queues" and see the queue list and see if anyone plans on downloading some massive file. Usuually in THOSE kinds of channels, they are.

 

So what this means is, you'll have to sit there idleing away in the chat room, for hours, maybe DAYS before you see your file. And if you aren't at the computer when the prompt finally appears, well, the script will try and re-connect to you several times usually, but will do no good if you're not there. You need to go into options and set mIRC to automatically download whatever anyone offers to you. This is an obvious security hazard if someone just sits and sends you trojans or fills up your drive on crap while you're not looking, but depending on how shady the atmosphere is in your chat room, that usually (USUALLY) doesn't happen.

[Guest CurryMan]

Instead of writing your ass of like "get" "cd" "cd.." "dir" and such there are a script called invision it has some buggs and I don´t really like it, but they have a built in explorer that is really easy to use if you are a newbie to IRC. Instead of writing all that stuff you just click where you want to go and click on what you want to d/l

 

Try to google for the script invision, you will probebly still have to get the mirc client because they probebly just have the script and nothing else in the zip/exe file. Just d/l both and add them in the same folder and you should be ok.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Instead of writing your ass of like "get" "cd" "cd.." "dir" and such there are a script called invision it has some buggs and I don´t really like it, but they have a built in explorer that is really easy to use if you are a newbie to IRC. Instead of writing all that stuff you just click where you want to go and click on what you want to d/l

Yes, that's nice, but it doesn't work on all SERVs, only the ones that use the default interface provided in mIRC. The ones that have menus or tell you to open folders by it's number or letting association (say typing in "1a" instead of "cd files") it'll toss it's cookies and not know what to do.