Hey there, I see couple different Full featured Irc Apps, as with many apps I usually look at the bottom of the page to see how popular or how many downloads it has had, maybe a ratings would be nice, but anyway, since they are a little big in file size (for me) in your mind which Irc is best/most popular/ ease of use etc ? would pidgin do as well or is it not as good or secure ?
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Pidgin's great for just passing in and out of IRC. Same with miranda. Both those apps are made more for IM. Its well worth the extra effort to learn something more full featured like pchat or kvirc. I'm still using xchat though I used to use miranda alot.
Too many lonely hearts in the real world
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Just as we like different food, what you, me or someone else thinks of IRC clients may vary. If size is of the essence, Miranda is pretty small, supports different IM protocols and has many features. I disliked it for various reasons, though you may think otherwise.
Pidgin is nice for many IM protocols and I love it. But as far as IRC goes, Pidgin is pretty "disabled" (don't get this wrong). It has all the basic features and supports DCC send for sending and receiving files, but that's about it. One of the things it can't do for example is DCC chat (Direct Client to Client chat). It's got broken NickServ identification, in which your password can't have a colon. There's no support for alternative nicknames, in case the first choice is already taken. Pidgin devs have openly called IRC protocol "broken" and expressed little interest in implementing features to it. If you decide to use it, IRC Helper and IRC More plugins should be added and enabled.
KVIrc is the best IRC client for safe conversation, meaning it supports both DCC chat and a very good encryption scheme out of the box. It can identify your buddies down to the hostmask they use, for added assurance. It's fantastic with what it can do and still very configurable. Bad sides: overwhelming with all the options, choices, commands, built-in scripting... Might cause a headache.
PChat/XChat is my preferred IRC client for anything not needing encryption. Configurable, somewhere between Pidgin and KVIrc if you look at the options it provides. Personal plus is that it can be set to share logs with KVIrc. Bad sides: has no spellcheck on Windows ATM; some people consider it ugly.
Conclusion: Miranda can do. Pidgin great if your focus is on other messaging protocols (should add IRC plugins). KVIrc may be too much for a newbie IRC user. PChat/XChat great yet simple (relative to KVIrc).
My posts are old and likely no longer relevant.
Ahem PChat has spell checking just the libraries aren't with it for enabling spell check, I keep forgetting to add them xD, later I'll do a package to add spell check for PChat considering PChat is already compiled for spell check usage just needs the libenchant libraries and some dictionaries in order it to work.
your friendly neighbourhood moderator Zach Thibeau
At least as soon as you add the necessary libraries and files to enable it...
That is good news, it was one of the very few bad things I could think of
My posts are old and likely no longer relevant.
So you say or think Kvirc is better or for more advanced users than Pchat ?. Both do have about the same file size, so I would think or hope they are almost comparable or in competition so to speak.
KVIrc and PChat? I'd definitely go with the word "different", as I use them for different purposes in a way they complement each other. I have my likes and dislikes for both programs, just tried to keep the review short. PChat can also do DCC chat, and the encryption can be achieved by a plugin. KVIrc does it neater. KVIrc definitely has more features, which makes it more complex to set up. KVIrc has a nasty convention on how the logs are named and created and gives you little configuration over it. PChat is great in letting you control the logs, what goes in them, how they are split, and optionally the folder structure you want them sorted into. KVIrc has some interesting gems like the Socket Spy, graphs, themes, finding friends via their hostmask... PChat has the benefit of relative simplicity while retaining important IRC features. PChat (or XChat) is also what I use daily, mostly for letting me keep all the Join/Part junk out of my channel logs.
In the end, you are the one to judge if some program is better than the other. Try them both. Even try how Pidgin works for you, maybe you'll find it enough. They are all free, costing nothing but a little time and effort to try them out and configure the way you like. Hope you find your pick
My posts are old and likely no longer relevant.