Here are a few suggestions...for mIRC. Remember that I was once a newbie there....and I had to be taught.1. Register your nickname. Do this by typing. /msg nickserv register (then type a password) nickserv will know what your nick is...so don't use that as a password.
2. Minimize anything that you are not using. You do this by clicking the down arrow of your box on the right of the screen. Click the up arrow and it will open it.
3. Tile your channels (this is handy expecially if you are chatting two or more channels at a time. You do this by finding the little blue and white rectangles in the right corner or your mIRC screen. Use the two that are one over the other one.
4. You can dcc chat with anyone personally by clicking in the little C thing with a tiny telephone on it. Type in their nickname and they will have the oppertunity to chat with you personally.
5. You can send pictures or sounds to them by clicking the dcc send box... and typing in their name. If you have a scanned picture.. you need to find the file .... click it...and it will send to them. You can send sounds too..
6. To send sounds find the dcc send ... find your sound file and send the sound. This looks like a little tiny open file with an S above it. Also... go to the DCC option box and check those boxes. I like everything automatic and minimized...so that is what I checked in this box. The DCC option box has the letterd DCC on it. You also need to show where you want your files that are sent to you to go..and down at the bottom there is a rectangle with a question mark for you to set it.
7. I would check most of your general option boxes.In all of your files.That way if you have a sound card and want sounds...etc... you can do that. Don't check the middle box, however in sound ...it is an ignore.. I sometimes leave the automatic invite closed, since one time a basher was mad at me and kept inviting me in his channel...and unexpectedly, I kept finding myself there...til I was told to uncheck it. Your general option box is found between the two yellow boxes at the left of the screen...between the two yellow folders.
8. In your sound request file (found in your general options) you will see a rectangle in the bottom of the screen... This is where your wav files (or sounds) are found. Make sure to locate it...if you want to send them.
9. If you want to know if any of your friends are on IRC ..... just put there names in the notify box. (in general option box). Then it will show who comes on ....and if you check the whois...it will show where they are.
10. To copy any of the text that any one types.... then highlight it with your mouse... hold down control and c...to cut it. To paste.. use control and v. I use this when I want to copy a URL or something. It is really handy when we have investigators that want to know something about the church and I have my basic LDS reference cd ready..I cut from the text in the cd...and copy it in the channel. I have also cut and copied things like the geneology websites..to bring into chats. I use the cut... under edit, however to copy my e-mail stuff and from the cd. I found the control c does not work... only in chat.
11. In general options. you will also see a box for keeping your logs. You may keep them if you wish to read later. To read them click the log..click...veiw and then if you wish to delete, there is a button for that too.
12. Your status box is a good friend of yours. You will use this often. It shows you if you have registered right. It shows you where the people on your notification list is. It is your window to the mIRC. Your status box is the first box to load. And will contain who your server was .... etc. When you do a /whois (nickname) it will show what channels they are in.
13. To leave a message for someone ... type /msg memoserv send (nickname) then your message..... It will download your message..and they will see it in their status box when they come in. If they want to read it they can type /msg memoserv list. It will pull up a list of their messages. Then type /msg memoserv read 1 or whatever the number of the message...and it will give you the message to read.
14 The little red and white life preserver in the right hand corner of the screen is your help box. It will help you learn all about mIRC. I hope that I have covered most of the questions that you would have about mIRC. Have fun..and see you in the chatrooms.