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This article discusses 5 best IRC client software for Windows 10. IRC, which is short for Internet Relay Chat, has long been an incredibly popular means of communication over the Internet. And even though a lot of new technologies (IM, social networking etc.) have come up in the recent years, IRC still remains popular. So it makes all the sense to have a capable IRC client installed on your system.

And that’s what this blog post is all about. These IRC chat clients include features like simultaneous connection support over multiple channels, file transfers, message encryption & logging, and much more. Excited already?Let’s jump in and find out more about 5 best IRC client software for Windows 10.

IceChat

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Simple and easy to use, IceChat is a feature laden IRC client software for Windows 10. The application can connect to multiple servers and IRC channels simultaneously with little to no effort. Apart from that, IceChat is also incredibly customizable, and you can tweak everything from fonts to themes to colors of UI elements. But that’s not all. To make it even more customizable, you can make custom pop-ups and even write your own scripts, using IceChat’s built-in editor. The Visual Basic Scripting (VBS) engine makes IceChat even more powerful, and the favorite server tree functionality lets you use the application’s multi server capabilities even better. IceChat supports a whole bunch of useful plugins as well.

Quassel IRC

Looking for a lightweight yet feature filled IRC client software for Windows 10? Look no further than Quassel IRC. Based on the Qt4 framework, Quassel is unique, in the sense that it is a distributed IRC client. This essentially means that multiple clients can connect to and disconnect from a central core that’s always online. Thus, if you re-connect to the core after a previous disconnection, your previous IRC session (complete with active channels, chats etc.) will be restored, even if the connection is made from a different system. Quassel is fairly customizable too, and you can tweak elements like colors and timestamps for chat sessions. The feature list includes goodies like chat monitor, custom chat lists, notifications, and then some more. You can also set multiple aliases and identities.

Smuxi

Just like the previously discussed Quassel, Smuxi is also a distributed IRC client software for Windows 10. This means that you can end and resume a chat session from an altogether different machine, and all the changes, open chats, active channels etc., will be there for you, seamlessly synchronized. Smuxi includes with a bunch of pre-configured IRC servers, and you can add/remove servers as well. The interface is customizable too, and you can change tab colors, timestamp formats, buffer lines, and more. Smuxi also supports desktop notifications, and chat filters. The filtered messages can be optionally logged too. All in all, Smuxi is an IRC client software that gets all the basics right, without throwing too much stuff at you.

Nettalk

Full of features and a breeze to use, that’s Nettalk for you. The featherweight IRC client software for Windows 10 is available as a regular installable program, as well as a portable application that you can carry anywhere. Nettalk can handle multiple IRC connections at a time, managing them effortlessly. It can automatically complete information like command, syntax, and even nicknames. In addition to that, the program supports encryption and spellcheck as well. There’s a bit of customization thrown in there too, as you can tweak the program colors. Nettalk can automatically log both room and private texts, and you can specify the maximum size of the log. You can also customize chat elements like text messages and background images.

HydraIRC

Finishing things off is HydraIRC, a straightforward yet versatile IRC client software for Windows 10. HydraIRC offers a plethora of goodies such as chat and file transfers, multi-server connectivity, message logging, event monitor, and then some more. Apart from that, it also includes channel monitoring (in development) and visual notifications for new messages. The application lets you create multiple identities and you can easily switch between them. Users can be categorized into groups too.

Note: We’ve also covered a bunch of IRC clients for other platforms. If you’re interested you can check them for iOS, Android, and even Google Chrome.

Conclusion

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is still a very much popular method of communicating with other users over the Internet. And the IRC chat clients discussed above make the whole job even easier. Try them all out, and let me know which one(s) work the best for you, in the comments section below.