mIRC is an Internet Relay Chat client for Windows, created in 1995. It is a fully functional chatutility, and its integrated scripting language makes it extensible 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'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, a Britishprogrammer. He began developing the software in late 1994, and released its first version on February 28, 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 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 Windows; 6.35 is the last to support Windows 95, NT 4.0, 98, and ME. The current version supports Windows XP and later.
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, but can also be 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 July 30, 2010, Unicode and IPv6 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 mIRC over to somebody else". 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.
