Chat

There are many ways to communicate on the Internet. The quickest way is by using chat or instant messaging programs. These allow you to communicate with individuals or groups of people in real time.

Chat

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a protocol which allows you to chat live, in real time with other users on the Internet in a channel, also called a chat room.

To chat on IRC, you will need an IRC program. The most common IRC program is mIRC. When you start mIRC, you will be asked to select a network to connect to. The most common networks are: EFnet, UnderNet, DALnet and IRCnet. You can use any of these networks, but you can only chat with other people on the network you select. For example; someone logged on to EFnet cannot chat with someone on UnderNet.

Once you have selected the server and network, enter your name, email address and nickname. We would advise you to use a fake e-mail address and to not use your full name, to protect your privacy.

Click OK to connect. Once you are connected to a server, you can start joining channels and begin chatting. Here are a few basic commands that will help you:

	/join #channelname will take you into a channel (replace "channelname" with the name of the channel you want to join).
	/nick nickname would change your nickname to whatever you specify.
	/whois nickname will allow you to get more detailed information on a user based on their nickname.
	/ping nickname allows you to determine the time it takes for information to get between you and a specific user.

Once you are on a channel or "chat room", you can start chatting. You will notice that many users will use abbreviations when chatting. Here are a few:

	LOL - laughing out loud
	ROFL - rolling on floor laughing
	BRB- be right back
	BBL - be back later
	BBIAF - be back in a flash
	TTYL - talk to you later
	j/k - just kidding

Instant Messaging

Instant Messaging is way communicate with people one-on-one. It has become a very popular way to communicate with friends, and is very easy to use. Here are the most popular Instant Messaging programs available:

	AOL Instant Messenger - A simple, yet very popular chat program with news and stock info on a ticker. Allows you to communicate with AOL members who are online.
	ICQ - Allows for file-transfers, chat rooms, or one-message-at-a-time conversations. A very popular program throughout the world.
	MSN Messenger - This program allows chats, file transfers with font-formatting and emoticons. Accounts are based off of free Hotmail accounts, and notifies you when you receive mail in your Hotmail mailbox. If you already have a Hotmail account, then you already have an MSN messenger account.
	Yahoo Messenger - Much like MSN Messenger. This program that allows chats, quick file transfers, font-formatting and MVironments, which are interactive, themed backgrounds. Accounts are based off of free Yahoo mail accounts, and notifies you when you receive mail in your Yahoo mailbox. If you already have a Yahoo mail account, then you already have a Yahoo messenger account.
	Trillian - Combines all of the above networks, including mIRC, into one program. Trillian supports docking, multiline edit boxes, buddy alerts, multiple connections to the same medium, a powerful skinning language, easy importing of your existing contacts, skinnable emoticons, logging, global away/invisible features, and a unified contact list.