mIRC Customization

Using mIRC's Built In Transparency
You can make mIRC transparent using the /setlayer <value> command. It comes in handy when reading websites and trying to keep up on what's happening in your favorite chans or watching videos while still chatting.

The values range from 1-255, 1 being completely transparent and 255 having no transparency (I've found 200 is a good setting for my desktop). Example:

In any mIRC window type the following:
/setlayer 200


You'll notice your window goes transparent and you can see everything behind it. If you have a slower processor or limited memory it might take a few extra seconds to set the transparency. From what I've noticed it has very little effect on the performance of mIRC or the computer.

One thing to note is that if/when you close down mIRC, the setlayer will reset itself. So the next time you fire up mIRC you will be back to a solid background. To get around this open up your remotes (keyboard shortcut Alt+R, or on the menu bar Tools > Scripts Editor). When you open the remote editor you may or may not see text in the large text box. If you do not see text then skip to the next paragraph. If you DO see text, then you want to click File > New. This will open a new mIRC scripting file without harming any of your other scripts.

Add the following line into your remote editor:
on 1:start: { setlayer 200 }

Click "Ok" and you're set. The next time you start mIRC your window will automatically be set to a transparency of your choosing. Note that the value 200 is my value, you can set it to whatever you'd like.

One last thing to be weary of. If you type /setlayer 1 your mIRC window will go completely transparent and you won't be able to see anything. This can be fixed one of two ways:
1) Close mIRC and reopen it. The setlayer command will reset itself granted you don't have it set to "1" in your remote editor.
2) Without clicking on anything, simply press the "Up" arrow on your keyboard. This will bring up the last line of text you sent through mIRC (which would be the /setlayer 1 command). Simply type two zero's and press enter. This should set the layer to 100 and you'll be able to see what you're doing again.

Here's a screenie of what my mIRC looks like with transparency (and a few color and font changes as well)
Link to screenshot: http://i25.tinypic.com/2ur33gm.png

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Placing A Channel On The Desktop
This option is most helpful if you're only on a few channels, or you have one channel that you're constantly watching or lurking in. This also works with message windows, or any mIRC window that you've created or have open. I'll use a channel as an example.

Locate the channel toolbar and right-click the channel you want displayed on the desktop. Simply click on "Desktop"


Said channel will then be ported onto your desktop completely separate from the rest of mIRC. Resize, stick it in a corner, and lurk away.
Link to screenshot: http://i29.tinypic.com/2cnw40p.png

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Hiding The Nick List
This is useful for smaller resolutions, or if you have a channel that you've dropped onto your desktop and want to
save some screen space by hiding information you don't constantly need.

In the upper left corner click the icon for the channel. In this screenshot I'm using a channel that's on my desktop.
However you will see this icon in the upper left corner of each channel, message window, status window, etc of mIRC. Click on "Nick List"


Once clicked, this little box will pop up. Check "Auto-hide nick list" to make the list of names hidden,
and "Show nick list on Shift+Tab" so you have the ability to bring it back if needed.


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SSL + mIRC
Here's how you connect to SSL enabled IRC servers with mIRC.

1: Download OpenSSL from the mirc website here

2: Double click the .exe file

3: Leave the default install directory and click "Install"

4: Done.

5: Connect to the server using the SSL port like this:
/server [irc.network] +6697

Tada. You're connected via SSL. To double check type
//whois $me
You should see YourName "is using a Secure Connection"