Connecting with XChat

XChat has been essentially unmaintained for a decade and should not be used. In addition, XChat for Windows is proprietary software. To protect your freedom, you should consider using an open source IRC client, such as it's open source fork HexChat. If you insist on using unmaintained software, XChat for Linux and Mac are open source.

  1. From the menu, select FileNetwork List....
    Attach:xchat-menu.png
  2. If your nick name is blank, fill in your nick name with the bouncer username you registered. If your user name is blank, fill in your user name with the bouncer username you registered.
  3. At the bottom-left corner, click on the + button to add a new network.
    Attach:xchat-networklist.png
    Name the network network-bnc; for example, if you want to connect to ircnow, name it ircnow-bnc. Then, click on Show details.
  4. Select the General tab.
    Attach:xchat-showdetails.png
    1. Hostname: the bouncer server address (it should look like example.ircnow.org)
    2. Port: 31337
    3. Check SSL
    4. Uncheck Use global user information
    5. Nick name: the bouncer username you registered
    6. User name: the bouncer username you registered.
  5. Select the Connecting tab
    Attach:xchat-connecting.png
    1. Check Auto connect to this network at startup
    2. Check Use SSL for all the servers on this network
    3. Server password: username/network:password -- for example, if your username is john, the network you want to connect to is ircnow, and your password is abcde12345, then fill in john/ircnow:abcde12345.
  6. Click Connect in a new tab at the bottom of the left window.
  7. If you see a message saying ZNC is not yet connected to the network, type /znc connect -- wait a few minutes to connect.