How to use IRC (Internet Relay Chat)

Step 3 Now that you are on IRC...

With IRC, you tell the "client" (chatzilla, in this case) that you are giving it a command. The standard is to precede the command with a slash. As seen previously, typing /networks tells the client to display the available networks. To see a list of all available commands, simply type /commands. A list will be displayed showing the proper commands that are accepted from where you are. I won't get into them all, but I'll show you the important and most useful ones.

Probably the most useful to anyone at first is the /nick command. This changes your "screen name" to whatever you want, within a limit of 9 characters. Let's say you started with the nickname "IRCMonkey" as chatzilla defaults to, and you want to be "B_Kenobi". Simply type as shown below:

/nick B_Kenobi

Now that is your new nickname. By default, chatzilla will save this as your default nickname for that channel with a limit of 9 characters. When you select "open this channel at startup" (selectable as shown in the image displayed below, this becomes a new default startup setting), you simply have to start chatzilla and your username and preferred channel wil automatically start and you are ready to go. You will not have to change your nickname every time you start, as chatzilla will retain your last nickname before you close it to be used when you return to that channel.

If you are stuck, or just want more information, simply type /help and chatzilla will walk you through any command. For example, we will ask chatzilla how to use the /dcc-send command:

/help dcc-send

[USAGE] dcc-send [<nickname> [<file>]]

[HELP] Offers a file to |nickname|. On a query view, |nickname| may be omitted to send the offer to the query view's user. A file may be specified directly by passing |file| or, if omitted, selected from a browse dialog.

(Please note that the above apparent links do not lead to anything and were not intended)

This may seem confusing, so let me explain it. Say you are chatting with your friend "Gozer", and you want o send them a file called "my_pix.bmp" from your desktop. You simply type:

/dcc-send gozer my_pix.bmp

Gozer will receive an offer to accept or deny this file, and if they choose to accept it, a new tab will open on your side showing the progress of the file transfer and the rate at which it is being transferred. The file transfer is directly from your computer to theirs, and no other people chatting with you will even know it is taking place, much less the server itself. It is transferred by a process called "P2P", which is a direct connection directly between you and your recipient. It is not encoded, but the security lies in that the transfer cannot be redirected, located, or even observed because it is just between you. The two computers are passing data as if they were connected by a private network, and cannot be intercepted because only two connections will work....The sender and the receiver. There is virtually no way a third party can get on that data-stream because the connection will either block them or self-terminate, as it is not compatible with more than two users. The transfer will continue in the background as you continue chatting, so there is no need to wait for it to finish.

There is a variant of the /dcc protocol, which is /dcc-chat. This allows you to bypass the server and the two of you act as your own. in a /dcc-chat enabled conversation, you are literally talking just between your two machines on a direct line. Locating this type of chat protocol is nearly impossible unless someone is specifically monitoring your line. to enable this with your friend Gozer, just type:

/dcc-chat gozer

A new tab will open, and you two are literally chatting client-to-client, without a server as a middle-man. This is rarely necessary, but if you are that paranoid, it is available. You can take a file-transfer automatically from Gozer by typing:

/dcc-accept-list-add gozer

Now you will automatically accept files from Gozer after a 15-second delay in which you can choose to deny the transfer. If you take no action, the transfer will start and you will begin downloading the file from their computer. There is no limit to file size whatsoever when using DCC. Send 1kB, or 190 GB, size does not matter, so long as you remain connected to Gozer (or whoever your friend is, we're using "Gozer" as an example). Now you will no longer have to choose "accept" every time they send you a file, and there is never any limit to how many transfers you can take at once, however, you will be taking files into the default folder. To change this to your desktop (for ease of explanation), have Chatzilla open and use the toolbar. Go to Chatzilla->Preferences....Go to "global settings" and select the DCC tab..Under "Downloads Folder", type-in "file:///C:/WINDOWS/Desktop/" (without quotes) or browse the path to your desktop and all DCC transfers will go there from now on as long as you "apply" the change before closing the menu.

For reliability, it is best to take one at a time though. This is active as long as they keep the same username, usually, even if their IP changes, such as if they use Dail-up/telephone internet access

(The above "IP" and Dial-Up..." are intended links, so clicking on them will give an explanation if you do not know what they mean)

You can PM other users by typing:

/msg Gozer I think he's lying

This will send a message only to Gozer: "I think he's lying" (without quotes). No other person will ever see this message, and it will show up in a new tab on the chatzilla client only for the recipient of the message, often with a system-sound to alert the recipient. This is a way to talk privately during a chat with several people and only talk to one person, like whispering to them, but noone can ever know that you did or what you said except who you said it to. Experiment with it to see how it works.

The context is /msg <username> <message>, just be sure to add a space between the username you want to talk to and the message you intend to type.