Recommendations for a good IRC client.

Recommend me a good IRC client.

Guys, Please recommend a good IRC client. I've used "mIRC + NNscript" and "ChatZilla" in the past and I'm too sick with them now. And now that I've been using IRC again a little back now, it feels too weird to use them all over again.

Operating System - Windows XP.
Cost - N/A Freewares only please.

Consider xchat. But xchat is not free in windows. It expires after 30days.

But there is a free version of xchat for windows. Consider it : X-Chat 2 for Windows

Hmm..never really tried Xchat2, gonna download it. Thanks for the suggestion.

Why don't you use Opera it has a inbuilt IRC client and is pretty good.

gameranand said:
Why don't you use Opera it has a inbuilt IRC client and is pretty good.

u heard that from ico. Right?

Try Opera one and it's pretty decent IMO. (Don't ask me, i am fine with Chatzilla)

Just uninstalled Opera, that icon's been lying there untouched for months. Any other suggestions?

how about pidgin?

There are no good IRC clients for Windows except mIRC, Chatzilla and (ugly) xchat.

^Well, I guess I just have to go back with ChatZilla and modify it to use it as a standalone program. NNscript doesn't support the latest mIRC (which sucks!).

BTW, Is irssi available in Windows? I'll just switch to it, and use with cygwin if it does.

Have been hearing about IRC's from past few months, but never really paid any heed towards the same.
Can anyone be a gentleman, and brief me about it a little. Are there chat rooms in them?

Have used some IRC's in the past, following some links provided here on TDF's forums.. But it's the first time, I have heard, that there is a "Client" for the same! And a client means, there has to be a server too. So, does Yahoo! or Google provides support for IRC's

So many question's I know. Call me a n00b interested to know about them.

Internet Relay Chat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Four things.

1) IRC network = server to which you connect.
2) IRC client = software which you are using.
3) Nickname = the name you use.
4) IRC channel = chatroom on the network.

furious_gamer said:
u heard that from ico. Right?

Yup. Although I am a Opera fanboy but still didn't knew that it had a built in IRC and I had used many and find Opera's IRC client to be the best.

Even i knew that a couple of months before, when i googled for good IRC Client for Opera.

Opera's the best on windows for IRC.... if u use another browser you could just use Opera as an irc client no harm

Chatzilla is probably the best client. After that it is Opera IRC.

Install Chatzilla via XULRunner. ChatZilla on XULRunner

^Thanks for the tutorial..

Anyone here got a problem with the way ChatZilla organizes the tab? It is really very weird and once you join loads of channels it gets messed up..That was the only reason I kept switching between mIRC and CZ.

SyGeek said:
BTW, Is irssi available in Windows? I'll just switch to it, and use with cygwin if it does.

You have to compile it from source. Unless you can find a binary which won't be so easy to find.

Anyway I second Krow's recommendation. The tab layout can be confusing as Chatzilla switches to the latest opened chat buffer but you can always have your favourite channel to autojoin last if you wish.

Finally settled on Quassel.