The file mirc551s.exe contains the 16 bit mIRC version 5.51
Released February 19th, 1999.

mirc551s.exe (934368) - 32 bit, for Win95, Win98 and Win NT. 
mirc551t.exe (985088) - 16 bit, for Win 3.x.
mfaq39hp.zip ( 91311) - The mIRC FAQ version 39

Welcome to mIRC version 5.51

mIRC is a shareware Internet Relay Chat client for Windows. It is developped 
and copyrighted by Khaled Mardam-Bey. mIRC is a highly configurable IRC client 
with all the goodies other clients on UNIX, Macintosh and even on Windows offer, 
combined with a *nice* and clean users interface. mIRC offers full color control, 
full DCC File Send and Get capabilities, aliases, a remote commands and events 
handler, scripting, place sensitive probrammable popup menu's, World Wide Web and 
sound support, and... a lot more. mIRC can act as an external Web browser helper 
application but it can work totally independent as well. 

mIRC is shareware but not crippled in any way... If you like it you're asked to 
register your copy to support work on future versions, new features, and bug fixes, 
and to ensure technical support via email now and in the future. 

mIRC is distributed in self-extracting cabinets that automatically will install mIRC 
on your PC. You dont need any external programs to install and setup mIRC on your PC, 
just follow the instructions. You first have to find out what mIRC issue you will be 
running. mIRC is available in a 16 bit issue (mirc551s.exe) and a 32 bit issue 
(mirc551t.exe). The 32 bit issue is meant for 32 bit Operating Systems like Windows95, 
Windows98 and Windows NT. If you are not sure what issue to use, try the 16 bit mIRC 
issue! That issue will always work.

Download the cabinet of your choice and run the installer. Once you have installed 
mIRC, you can run it, fill in the required setup information, and connect to an IRC 
server. When you're upgrading mIRC all your old settings and scripts will stay as 
they were. mIRC will guide you through the initial stages and hopefully you'll be 
chatting in no time. If you get stuck or want to find out more about a certain 
feature, just click on a Help button in a window or browse the Help file and you 
should find lots of hints to help you out.

As you become more experienced you can also start configuring mIRC's features to suit 
your own needs and tastes, features such as colours, fonts, function keys, aliases, 
popup menus, scripts, sounds and many others.

Good luck and have fun!

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Internet Relay Chat.

For those of you new to the Internet, IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. The 
IRC networks offer a virtual meeting place where people from all over the world 
can meet and talk. Dont mix-up IRC with the slow Web chats you might have seen. 
IRC is specially designed for chatting and works very fast. 

IRC was originally written by Jarkko Oikarinen in 1988. Since starting in Finland, 
it has spread to almost all countries around the world. IRC is a multi-user chat 
system, where people meet on "channels" (rooms, virtual places, usually with a 
certain topic of conversation) to talk in groups, or privately. There is no 
restriction to the number of people that can participate in a given discussion, or 
the number of channels that can be formed on IRC. 

mIRC attempts to provide a user-friendly interface for use with the IRC networks.
As a user you run mIRC on your PC and you connect to a "server" in an IRC network. 
All servers are interconnected and pass messages from user to user over the IRC 
network. One server can be connected to several other servers and up to hundreds 
of clients. You can join several channels at once and participate in private 
discussions at the same time. The various parts of the IRC client mIRC have been 
designed with the aim of simplifying and speeding up your IRC sessions.

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What is new?

mIRC's new version 5.51 fixes most, if not all, of the small but 
nevertheless anoying buggies found in the previous version. mIRC's 
new version 5.51 has far too many new features and functions to 
mention here in detail. I'll try to show the best here, in a nutshell. 
In the end of this file you'll find the full list of changes.
 
During the past few weeks small and larger problems were reported. 
Very obvious was the bug in the /help command. Sorry, it seems we 
dont need help often enough and that buggie was missed in beta testing... 
The handling of hotlink nicknames (you can right-click on all 
nicknames of people present in your channels) had to be improved a 
little and a recources problem with the mouse pointer moving over 
clickable items had to be fixed. The flood control routines are made 
more independent and robust, and a tricky problem related to not 
ignoring users if you have a query window open with them is fixed. 
Also a nasty bug in the DCC Server which in certain cases was not 
removing leading \ and . chars from the filename that was sent is 
fixed. Apart from these and other less visible fixes several new 
thingies are introduced in this new mIRC.

By popular demand the 'Show Topics in channel' option is added back. 
A new 'Timestamp Logs' option is added that enforces timestamping in 
all log files. This feature for instance facilitates the funny 
mIRCStats channel statistics add-on program (http://www.students.tut.fi/~ave/mircstats/). 
Several improvements to the Identifiers used in scripting have been 
made, especially note the new $dialog features!

Last but not least, preparations have been made to facilitate the 
planned +c channelmode on DALnet as much as possible with the little 
information we have on this new mode. 

It is very possible you never experienced any of the mentioned bugs 
as they (like most of the other ones mentioned in the versions.txt) 
only occur in very specific situations and/or under tricky scripting 
conditions. Nothing a normal chatter has anything to do with :-)

We think we did a good job and your download of this new mIRC 5.51 
is highly recommended!

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More information.

mIRC is supported by a set of WWW pages. On these pages you'll find information 
on new versions, new ideas, known bugs and solutions, and possibly all other 
information you might need on IRC in general, and on mIRC. Besides the newest 
mIRC also the new mIRC FAQ and IRC Intro file are available from these www pages.

http://www.mirc.com/		USA
http://www.mirc.co.uk		United Kingdom
http://www.geocities.com/~mirc/	USA
http://www.nip.nl/mirc/		The Netherlands
http://www.mirc.queen.it/	Italy
http://mirc.kems.net/		Kuwait
http://www.mirc.com.ar/		Argentina
http://www.conesul.com.br/mirc/	Brazil
http://www.mirc.co.za/		South Africa
http://mirc.eon.net.au/		Australia

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License Agreement

mIRC® v5.51 Internet Relay Chat Client
Copyright © 1995-1999 mIRC Co. Ltd.
All rights reserved.

mIRC is Shareware which means that you can use it legally for 30 days free 
of charge to evaluate it. If during, or at the end of, that period you decide 
that you would like to continue using it, please register your copy. Your 
single-user registration will license you to use your copy of mIRC, will 
support work on future versions, new features, and bug fixes, and will provide 
you with technical support via email. Please see the Registration section in 
the help file to find out how you can register.

mIRC may be freely distributed subject to, but not limited to, the following 
terms: mIRC may not be sold or resold, distributed as a part of any commercial 
package, used in a commercial environment, used or distributed in support of 
a commercial service, or used or distributed to support any kind of profit-
generating activity, even if it is being distributed freely.

If you would like to distribute mIRC as part of a shareware distribution, 
magazine, internet book, CD ROM, etc. contact me for written permission.
All commercial use interests in mIRC eg. site licensing, should be directed 
to khaled@mardam.demon.co.uk.

mIRC may only be distributed in the original distribution install file format 
as distributed by mIRC Co. Ltd. The mIRC distribution install file may not 
have files added to it or removed from it, and none of its contents may be 
modified, decompiled, or reverse engineered.

mIRC is provided AS IS without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, 
including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and 
fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall mIRC Co. Ltd. be liable for 
any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, 
loss of business profits or special damages, even if mIRC Co. Ltd. has been 
advised of the possibility of such damages.

mIRC is a registered trademark of mIRC Co. Ltd.
The mIRC Logo is a trademark of mIRC Co. Ltd.
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