Viruses and Trojans

If mIRC is running when your Windows first starts up, or is sending files to other users on IRC by itself, or joining channels without you asking it to, or sending messages to channels or users that you have not typed yourself, then it is possible that you may have downloaded a trojan or virus onto your computer.

If you have found mIRC on your computer and you have not yourself visited the mIRC website and downloaded mIRC, this means that you have downloaded a trojan/virus from some other website or through an email, and this trojan/virus has itself installed a non-official copy of mIRC on your computer.

The official version of mIRC can be uninstalled via the Windows Control Panel Add/Remove section, the same as with all Windows applications.

Unfortunately, the trojan/virus you have downloaded will most likely prevent you from uninstalling mIRC. Even if you were to find a way to remove mIRC, the trojan/virus itself would still remain. You must ensure that you are removing the trojan/virus itself, otherwise your computer will still be at risk.

The only way to remove a trojan/virus is to use anti-virus software that recognizes the trojan/virus that you have. If your anti-virus software does not work, you will need to contact an anti-virus company to ask for help.

How did this happen?

There are several ways that this could have happened: you may have downloaded a file from another user on IRC, or from a website, or received an attachment through an email, which was a trojan or virus.

It is also possible to become infected just by visiting a website, if the web browser that you are using has a security vulnerability, which unfortunately is quite common.

Other potential causes are having an insecure internet connection, or a security problem in Windows which allows someone to infiltrate your system. This is usually fixed by Microsoft quite quickly, however the onus is on you to make sure that you have applied the latest security fixes to your Windows operating system.

If you have been infected with a trojan or virus, it is quite possible that your computer may be at this moment infecting many other people, so it is important that you resolve the issue as soon as you can.

A trojan/virus infection is not something you can solve simply by deleting some files or uninstalling mIRC.

The only way to solve your trojan/virus issue is to download anti-virus software, and if that doesn't work, you will need to contact an anti-virus company to ask for help.