Q: Aaaah! There's a whole bunch of different locations and countries listed at the mIRC site! Which one should I download?!
A: Those are just different mirrors of the same download. Download the one that corresponds to where you live. Choose your country, and if it's the USA or Canada, choose the state or province closest to you, that will help the speed of your download.
Q: Hey! When I open up mIRC, a pop-up window says I have 30 days left! I have to pay for this!?
A: It's true that Khaled Mardam-Bey, the programmer for mIRC, is asking for money. After all, he did spend the past decade coding the best Windows IRC client. However, that dialog box is as invasive as it gets. Once your 30 days are up, everytime you open mIRC, the box will pop up, and the bar will just blink red a few times before allowing you to close it. If you do pay, however, it costs $20 for a registration number, and every mIRC upgrade will not require extra payment.
Q: What's the deal with people having @'s, %'s, or +'s before their names?
A: The "@" denotes that the user is an OP (or the OPerator) of the channel, and they may kick and ban any user that breaks the rules. The "%" denotes that a user is a HalfOP, and they also kick (but can't ban) users that break the rules. The "+" denotes that a user has a "voice", and may still talk in the channel when it is put in "+m" mode.
Q: Hey! I was chatting and all of a sudden the whole chatroom disappeared! What happened?!
A: You were "kicked" from the channel. This is how ops remove people who are breaking the rules or being really annoying. If you haven't read the rules yet, click here. If you still don't know what you did wrong, ask an op nicely. But don't whine or complain about it.
Q: I read this WHOLE file and I'm STILL stuck. What now?
A: If your inquiry regards how to set up and use IRC, check out our "Get Connected" section. If those can't help you, send a PM, and we'll help you.
