Visual IRC -- Visual IRC (ViRC) is a relatively new Internet Relay Chat client that is rich in both features and ease of use. Some of its many features include support for text attributes (bold, italics, and underline tags), pause and resume, aliases and macros for creating your own IRC commands, a LagScope feature for letting you know how server delays are affecting your elapsed time, userlist support for turning yourself into a simple bot, grouplist support for quickly scoping out all the channels currently available, its own programming language (the ViRC Programming Language or VPL for short), and much more. There is even the capability for real-time voice audio chatting with ViRC (like that of Internet Phone and similar clients), as well as real-time video capabilities, sound effects, MIDI, and synthesized speech for the full multimedia effect. You can also send and receive files through IRC using DCC support; in fact, the newest release has added an extremely cool DCC Whiteboard feature, which allows users to graphically collaborate with each other through the use of an integrated, object-oriented paint package. ViRC also gives you full hyperlink support, which allows your web browser to load a document when you click on a link from within Visual IRC.

Additional features that have been recently implemented include automatic resume (for continuing interrupted file transfers); multiple concurrent server connections; multi-user support; integrated IDENTD server, Finger server, and Finger client apps; SOCKS firewall support; Windows wallpaper capabilities; and heuristic nickname completion. There are few features that need improvement, and with recent improvements made in the newer versions, this list has grown even shorter -- for example, the channel list now offers a filtering capability based on the number of users present, a feature greatly missed in previous versions. Additionally, a Windows 95/NT 4.0 specific version has recently been released (ViRC '97) which offers all the same great features found in the Windows 3.x release as well as several exceptional ones unique to the '97 client. The '97 release also enjoys an entirely revised (and now customizable) interface that is sure to appeal to new and existing users alike. Still, the online help documentation for both releases could be enhanced with a more extensive introduction to what Internet Relay Chat is and how to quickly get up and running on the IRC, A few features could also be made more intuitive, especially for new users. Overall, Visual IRC offers a ton of cool features, many never before seen in an IRC client, and does so with one of the most intuitive and easy to use interfaces that I've seen for an IRC app. In short, this is a must-have client for serious IRC users as well as for those who occasionally chat using IRC.

Pros: Quick, easy to use client; powerful and unique features, including real-time audio chatting
Cons: Could be more intuitive for new users , some features could be improved
New for ViRC: ViRC Programming Language (VPL), query window, IRC primer, more
New for ViRC '97: Real-time video and audio capabilities, entirely revised (and customizable) interface, more

Version Reviewed: 1.00 Official Release Date of Review: 9/2/97

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