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Using mIRC with ICS - Internet Connection Sharing Windows 98SE and Windows 2000 have built-in support for Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). ICS enables several networked computers to share one internet connection and one internet account. Unfortunately it can be a bit confusing on how to get certain mIRC features such as identd and dcc chat/send to work with it. This page will explain how to configure mIRC and ICS so you can use all of mIRCs features on all of your computers. The instructions on this page are based on hands-on testing with mIRC version 5.7 and ICS on Windows 2000 Professional. These instructions may or may not work for other versions. Furthermore, these instructions assume you followed the ICS installation instructions and have ICS up and running. Be sure to use STATIC IPs for all the computers on your LAN. Assign 192.168.0.1 for the computer running ICS. Assign 192.168.0.2 for the first client computer, 192.168.0.3 for the second one, and so on. I know this is a pain. DHCP is much nicer but I haven't figured out how to get ICS to use computer names. If you know how please email me and I will post it here. First, we must define some terms. Let's call the computer that is running ICS the Server and we'll call all other computers on your network Clients. Getting mIRC to work with ICS varies depending on whether you want to run mIRC on the Server or on the Clients. I will explain how to do both. If you follow these instructions you will be able to run mIRC on every computer on your network simultaneously. Common mIRC Configuration Parts of mIRC must be configured one way when it is run on the Server and a different way when it is run on a Client. Other parts are configured the same way on both. This section describes the mIRC configuration that is common for both Server and Client.
mIRC On The Server Getting mIRC to run on the Server is alot easier than getting it to work on a Client. Just enable mIRCs Ident Server if your IRC network requires it and you're done. No further ICS or mIRC configuration is necessary. mIRC On A Client Getting mIRC's Ident Server, DCC Server, and DCC Chat/Send facilites to work on Clients requires configuration changes to both mIRC and ICS.
That's all there is to it. Have fun. Firewalls are great for keeping unwanted "guests" from accessing your computer but they can get in the way of legitimate connections. In general, if you want to use mIRCs Ident Server, DCCServer, and DCC Chat and Send features you must open up the ports these features use in your firewall. By default the Ident Server uses port 113. DCCServer uses 59, and DCC Chat and Send use ports 1024-5000. The Ident Server port can be changed via File/Options/Identd. The DCCServer port is at File/Options/DCC/Server. The DCC Chat and Send ports are at File/Options/DCC/Options in the DCC Ports: box. New IRC users are often confused about DCC Chat and Send. They tend to think that if they are initiating the Chat or Send then they are making an outgoing connection so they don't have to worry about a firewall. However, DCC Chat and Send don't work that way. Instead they cause mIRC (and all other IRC clients) to create a "Listening" socket on their computer. mIRC then sends the DCC Chat or Send request to the remote user in a CTCP packet. The packet includes the users IP address and the Listening socket port number. The remote user is the one that acutally makes an outgoing connection to the listening socket. BlackICE Defender BlackICE Defender is a firewall by NetworkICE. It is not free. BlackICE leaves port 113 open by default. Protection level Cautious closes port 59 (DCCServer) but leaves ports 1024-5000 (DCC Chat and Send) open. Protection levels Nervous and Paranoid block these ports. So, if you want to DCC Chat and Send using the default ports you should use the Cautious level. If you want to use the default DCCServer port (59) you will have to hand edit the firewall.ini file. Locate the section: [MANUAL TCP low REJECT] and add a line like: ACCEPT, 59,dccserver, 1999-07-19 20:50:26, PERPETUAL By the way, if you want to close port 113 then find a line like: ACCEPT, 113, identd, 1999-07-19 20:50:26, PERPETUAL and change it to: REJECT, 113, identd, 1999-07-19 20:50:26, PERPETUAL ZoneAlarm ZoneAlarm is a firewall by Zone Labs. I don't have any information about how to configure ZoneAlarm at this time. I list it here in case you are curious and want to check it out. ZoneAlarm is free. Zone Labs recently came out with ZoneAlarm Pro which is not free. The interesting thing about ZoneAlarm is that it can block outgoing connections as well as incoming connections. This means that not only do you have to open up the ports that mIRC uses but you must also allow mIRC to make outgoing connections. WinGate is a very useful program that enables several networked computers to share one internet connection and one internet account. Unfortunately it can be a bit confusing on how to get certain mIRC features such as identd and dcc chat/send to work with it. This page will explain how to configure mIRC and WinGate so you can use all of mIRCs features. Before I get into the details I must note that WinGate has gotten a bad reputation on IRC. This is because early versions of WinGate installed with defaults that enabled "hackers" to use them in ways that were not intended. The folks that make WinGate got the message and changed the defaults but not before the IRC community took action. At first scripters (mirc and eggdrop), including me, implemented WinGate checkers that automatically kick and ban unsecured WinGates. The problem got so bad that IRC servers were modified to check for unsecured WinGates when you connect. [If you run a WinGate checker on Undernet I suggest that you reevaluate your need to do so because the Undernet servers are checking Telnet and SOCKS.] You can use mIRC from WinGate as long as WinGate's Telnet and SOCKS Proxy servers are secured. You can verify their security by viewing their Bindings tabs in GateKeeper and ensuring that "Allow connections coming in on any interface" is NOT selected. The instructions on this page are based on hands-on testing with mIRC version 5.61 and WinGate Standard version 3.0.5. These instructions may or may not work for other versions. Furthermore, these instructions assume you followed the WinGate installation instructions and have TCP/IP and WinGate running. First, we must define some terms. WinGate can be installed as a server or a client. WinGate should be installed as a server on the computer that has the physical connection (modem, cable modem, etc.) to the internet. I will refer to this computer as the WinGate Server. WinGate should be installed as a client on all other computers on your network that need access to the internet. I will refer to these computers as WinGate Client's. [Note: WinGate is licensed for a certain number of simultaneous connections and enforces the limit. Therefore, if you have say five computers and have only a three computer license then don't expect to run internet applications (including mIRC) on all five at the same time.] Getting mIRC to work with WinGate varies depending on whether you want to run mIRC on the WinGate Server or on one or more WinGate Clients. I will explain how to do both. If you follow these instructions you will be able to run mIRC on every computer on your network, simultaneously. Common mIRC Configuration Parts of mIRC must be configured one way when it is run on a WinGate Server and a different way when it is run on a WinGate Client. Other parts are configured the same way on both. This section describes the mIRC configuration that is common for both WinGate Server and Client.
mIRC On A WinGate Client Getting mIRC to run on a WinGate Client is alot easier than getting it to work on a WinGate Server.
mIRC On A WinGate Server The WinGate Internet Client really makes using mIRC a breeze but unfortunately you can't run the WinGate Internet Client on the WinGate Server. All internet applications running on the WinGate Server, including mIRC, must be configured to use SOCKS or various WinGate proxies.
Running Multiple mIRCs on a WinGate Network Yep, it can be done. I've successfully use DCC Chat, DCC Send, fserve, etc. between several mIRCs on my WinGate network but here are some pointers.
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