This is kind of a quick run through mIRC. Take notes if you want or just figure it out when you get on. First, mIRC is basically a network of chat rooms and instant messages. If you have ever used AOL or Prodigy, mIRC is basically the chat portion of that . . . but much better. When you first use mIRC, a box will pop up showing you several different locations which you can sign on to. Try to find the location that is closest to you. This will prevent any delay in the transfer of data to and from other computers. This 'delay' is reffered to as lag. To check how delayed you are, have yourself (or a friend) right click on your name and scroll down till you see the choice 'ping.' Click on this to see how much you are lagged.

Next, you will want to choose a room. You may either choose from the list that they give you or pick your own. If you are looking for a cool room, try #twotone or #change. Who knows, you might see me there. I go by joe^^.

The next thing to understand is ops. Short for operators, ops do just that, operate. They can kick you out of rooms for anything they want. You can tell who is an op quite simply. If I was an op, my name would have a @, and it would look like this, @joe^^.

Your name will be your nick and can be changed by typing /nick followed by your desired name.

The rest you can figure out on your own so go back to the mIRC page and download it.