This newest version of mIRC (mIRC 5.1, August 1997) May not be the greatest GUI revision ever, but it certainly shows mIRC Ltd. is reading the email on a regular basis. Khaled has (I think) cleared out any bug that existed in 5.02 as the word "fixed" appears no less than 47 times in the versions text; which, I think it should be considered required reading for anyone who is doing any serious scripting. Not only is this version rich in fixes, but also contains many enhancements to the script language within mIRC all of which are talked about in the aforementioned versions.txt.

The new mIRC's install is as slick as they come, truly a click and go. It found my existing version and prompted me to back up the ini files and write over top. Total installation time was about 5 seconds. All my current settings were preserved perfectly. Although mIRC warns not to install to a Long file name type dir, I always have and have had no problems with that to date. The computer squeamish might be well advised to install mIRC into its own directory in the root of c: drive, (c:\mIRC) thus avoiding any "long file name" problems.

Khaled has included a few new revisions in this version:

• One I had not thought about is the URL catcher now catches Email addresses! No more having to cut and paste email addys to your favorite mail client. the small catch here is that the word 'mail' must appear in the same text line for the catcher to catch it.

• Another hits home as my wife had been having a problem double clicking on the server she wanted in the servers list, the problem was that the first click selected the server, the second click hit the delete button as the list disappeared and deleted the server LOL, that has been fixed as Khaled has moved the edit buttons above the server selection box. This should no doubt ease her problem a bit!

• The DCC options tab now includes the DCC options that used to be in the general options section. Also the options dialog box has been spruced up as well. It is now possible to totally turn off the DCC function of a client and not just ignore. He has also added an 'If auto get and file exists, Ask, Resume or overwrite" option as well.
• For those that are mIRC-color-literate, there are some windows in mIRC that now have colors (control codes) enabled in them. Among those the /links list, channel list, and any specialty list windows.
• One revision in the scripting section that I am particularly fond of is the addition of an QUERYOPEN and QUERYCLOSE event! The syntax for these is identical to all other "on" events but does not require a third parameter ($nick or #chan etc). Example: on 1:QUERYOPEN:/msg $nick Hiya Dewd, Long time no type! :-)

• Last but not least, the one that I think is the most significant update would be the addition of the address book and the /uwho <nick> window update. The address book (13 the icon from the left on the toolbar) is a nice slick full featured address book. It is also fully integrated with the Ucentral (/uwho <nick>) popup. Not only does it display all the info as entered by the user but it gives you all the CTCP options as well. All information can be optionally saved in the address book. Information previously stored in the ucentral library is imported into the address book automatically when you load mIRC.

One final note: It appears that mIRC is adopting A new LOGO! Personally, I have become kind of accustomed to the old one, but have heard nothing but glowing comments about the new one.....what do you think?

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Please email me your thoughts at: Tracker@chatcircuit.com

If the response warrants it, maybe we'll send an email to mIRC with the results!

P.S If you click on the logo in the top right corner of the 'About mIRC" box it changes back and forth between logos!