Article ID: 188130
Article Last Modified on 7/13/2004
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Microsoft Chat README
June, 1998
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(c) Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 1998
This document provides information to supplement the Microsoft Chat Web
page. The Frequently Asked Questions section on the Web contains more
up-to-date information. You can access this Web page by clicking the
Help menu, clicking Microsoft On The Web, and then clicking Frequently
Asked Questions.
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How to Use This Document
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To view Readme.txt on screen in Notepad, maximize the Notepad window.
To print Readme.txt, open it in Notepad or another word processor, and
then use the Print command on the File menu.
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CONTENTS
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1. Supported Configurations/Platforms
2. Connecting to Other IRC Chat Rooms
3. Support Information for Microsoft Chat
4. Frequently Asked Questions
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1. Supported Configurations/Platforms
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Microsoft Chat currently runs under Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT
4.0.
Microsoft Chat requires the following minimum configuration:
- A 486 processor
- 8 MB of RAM
- 256-color video
- A 9600-baud modem
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2. Connecting to Other IRC Chat Rooms
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If you want to connect to an IRC chat server that you already know
about, expand the Connect dialog box, and then type the server address
and channel name--for example, you might type the following:
mschat1.msn.com, #Microsoft_Chat.
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3. Support Information for Microsoft Chat
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For support issues regarding Microsoft Chat, please refer to the
support.txt located in the same directory as the Microsoft Chat readme.txt.
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4. Frequently Asked Questions
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Q. Will you be updating Microsoft Chat?
A. We will update our Web site frequently. To view the updates, click
the Help menu, click Microsoft On The Web, and then click Free Stuff.
Q. How do I connect to other IRC chat rooms or channels?
A. If you want to connect to an IRC chat room or channel that you
already know about, carry out the following steps:
1. Start Microsoft Chat by clicking on the Start button, then
select Programs menu and then select Microsoft Chat icon from
the Internet Explorer group.
2. In the Connect dialog box, type the following information:
- In the Server box, type the IRC server name.
The default entry is Microsoft Chat Servers.
Replace this with the IRC server you want to connect to.
- In the Chat room box, type the chat room name, preceded by a
number sign (#).
The default channel name is #Comic_Chat.
Q. How can I tell which version of Microsoft Chat I am running?
A. Click on the Help menu, and then click About Microsoft Chat. The version
number is listed at the top of the box.
Q. Why can't I get access to any Microsoft Chat or IRC chat rooms?
A. If you are accessing the Internet from your corporate network, you
will be able to download the Microsoft Chat program; however, most
corporate proxy servers limit access to chat rooms. If you have any
questions, please contact your system administrator or use a dial-up
analog or ISDN line to access the Internet.
Q. Can I create my own comic characters?
A. Yes, you can create characters. To install the Microsoft Chat Character
Editor click the Help menu, click Microsoft On The Web, and then
click Free Stuff.
Q. Can I create my own backgrounds?
A. Microsoft Chat supplies a limited number of backgrounds, but more will
be added soon. Backgrounds are bitmap files, which you can create with
any graphics package.
Q. How can I tell characters apart when there are duplicate characters?
A. Move your mouse pointer over the character and then pause. A tooltip
will display the user's nickname.
Q. Can I uninstall Microsoft Chat?
A. Yes. To uninstall Microsoft Chat, carry out the following steps:
1. In Control Panel, double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon.
2. Click Microsoft Chat, and then follow the instructions on your
screen.
Q. Why does it say my ID is in use when I go to another chat room?
A. Nicknames (IDs) must be unique. Your connection will be refused if:
- You are already connected to a chat room on the server.
- You recently disconnected and the server has not refreshed.
- Someone else is using your nickname.
To connect, you can either choose a new nickname or make sure that
all Microsoft Chat clients have been closed and then wait a minute
and reopen Microsoft Chat.
Q. How do I get more panels across the screen?
A. To get more panels across the screen, you can try one or more of the
options below:
1) Increase your screen resolution. To do this, in Control Panel,
double-click the Display icon, and then click the Settings tab.
2) Maximize the window.
3) Move the vertical splitter to the right to make the member list
thinner.
Once you have done one or more of these options, click the View menu,
and then choose the largest number of panels you can.
Q. What is the difference between Microsoft Chat and IRC chat?
A. Microsoft Chat is a graphical chat client that can be used like any
text chat client on the IRC channel. Not everyone inside the channel
(chat room) needs to be using Microsoft Chat for this to work. Text
chat users will automatically be assigned a character, so the entire
chat is graphically represented to the Microsoft Chat client user.
NOTE: When you use Microsoft Chat on an IRC channel where most of
the other users are using IRC text clients, it is a good idea
to begin by clicking the Options command from the View menu and
then selecting the Don't Send Microsoft Chat Specific Information
check box. This will prevent special comics messages from being
sent to the other chat clients. After you log off Microsoft Chat,
the client will reset.
Q. I click the hot links--such as http:, mailto:--in text mode, but nothing
happens. Why does this work in comics mode but not in text mode?
A. The hot links in text mode are dependent on the rich edit functions in
Windows. Initially, the rich edit functions did not support the hot-link
capability, but Windows NT and later versions of Windows 95 added this
capability to rich edit. If you cannot use the hot links in text mode,
you can always change to comics mode and use the hot links from there.
Q. I have Comic Chat 1.0 on my computer, and after installing Microsoft
Chat, I see a shortcut to Comic Chat 1.0. Is it safe to delete the
shortcut to Comic Chat 1.0?
A. If you installed Microsoft Chat over Comic Chat 1.0, you might see
Comic Chat 1.0 icons (as well as Microsoft Chat icons) on the Start
menu. You can safely delete the Comic Chat 1.0 icons; this will not
affect the usability of Microsoft Chat. For more information, see
the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
Q. I have a previous version of Comic Chat on my computer. Should I
uninstall Comic Chat before installing Microsoft Chat?
A. We recommend that you uninstall any previous version of Comic Chat
before installing Microsoft Chat. However if you did not uninstall
Comic Chat before installing Microsoft Chat, you should not experience
any problems with Microsoft Chat.
Q. I am using Chat 2.5 with Russian settings and when I join a room, where
Chat 2.0 users with Russian settings are speaking, I don't recognize the
characters. Why is this?
A. We changed the character set used for chatting in 2.1 and later versions
of Microsoft Chat, when the user has Russian settings. By using this new
character set, Chat 2.1 and higher versions are now compatible with most
chat programs on the internet. Chat 2.0 users should upgrade to
Microsoft Chat 2.1 and later versions to become compatible with Chat 2.1
(and later versions) as well as other chat clients on the Internet.
Q. When I am chatting in rooms that don't start with a "#", Microsoft Chat
2.0 users tell me that they don't recognize the characters I am sending
them, even though we are using the same language. Why is this?
A. On some chat servers (such as mschat.msn.com) that support creating
rooms without a "#", the character set used by Microsoft Chat 2.0 and
Microsoft Chat 2.1 (and later versions) in these rooms may be different.
i) When a room is created with Microsoft Chat 2.1 (or later) without a
"#", a unicode character set is used to communicate in this room.
Microsoft Chat 2.0 user might see the room listed in the room list
dialog box beginning with a "%#". If Microsoft Chat 2.0 user enters
such a room, they will not be able to communicate with Microsoft Chat
2.1 (and later versions), since 2.0 uses a different character set then
the unicode character set. You can find out if the user is Microsoft
Chat 2.0 user, by selecting their nickname from the member list and then
selecting the Version command from the Member menu.
ii) Microsoft Chat 2.1 (and later versions) will be able to enter rooms
without a leading "#" created by Microsoft Chat 2.0 users, and the two
clients will be able to communicate with each other.
There are some problems with this:
a) If the user uses characters outside the range of A-Z,
Microsoft Chat 2.1 (and later versions) will not show these
rooms correctly in the room list. In some languages the
characters will not be recognizable.
b) Microsoft Chat 2.1 (and later versions) will not show
invitations to these rooms correctly. The room name in the
invitation might not be recognized, if the room name contains
characters not in the A-Z range.
c) Trying to join Microsoft Chat 2.0 rooms using the "Enter Room"
command or the initial "Connect Dialog" might not connect the
user to the 2.0 room, but instead the user will join a 2.1 (and
later versions) room with the same name. If you want to join the
room that the chat 2.0 user created, then you need to join the
room from the room list.
d) Certain error messages might show the room name incorrectly for
users of chat 2.1 (and later versions), if the room name was
created by a 2.0 user, and it contains characters not in the A-Z
range.
Q. Why can't I join the chat room, when I click on a mic URL link?
A. Currently the mechanism for launching chat from a web page using the
mic: url is supported by Internet Explorer. If you have another browser,
this launching mechanism might not be supported.
Q. On some IRC servers I can not use some characters in my nickname and on
others servers I can use any character in my nickname. Why is this?
A. Microsoft chat 2.5 will allow you to use most characters in your
nickname. However depending on the chat server, you may not be allowed
to use all characters in your nickname and the server will return you an
error. Our default server, mschat.msn.com, is one of the chat servers
which will allow you to use most characters, including Far East
character sets.
Q. When I connect to the chat server and the message of the day dialog box
comes up, I can't use the mouse to close the dialog box. How can I close
this dialog box, if this happens?
A. This happens with this dialog box and might happen with other dialog
boxes, that get information from the server and fill this information in
the dialog box. If the dialog box appears locked up, you can hit enter
and this should close the dialog box.
Q. When I use the IRC commands, sometimes the nicknames and room names
displayed in the Status window shows up wrong. Why is this?
A. On IRCX servers, which are servers that support the extended IRC
specifications called IRCX, room names and nicknames can have unicode
letters. When we display the data in the Status Window it will appear
wrong. If you use the user list or room list to view the nicknames or
room names they will appear correct.
Q. How come I can't add any macros to my list?
A. In order to save a macro, the add macro button must be pressed after you
entered all the information for your macro.
Q. How do I create a Network list? How come the add Network button is
greyed out?
A. To create a Network, type in the name of the network next to the Network
field on the Servers tab found in the Options dialog box. After you
enter a new name for a Network, the Add Network button will be
highlighted. Click the Add Network button to save a new network. To add
servers to your network, type the name of your server(s) and click Add
to save.
Q. How can I add a notification from the user list? When I right click add
user to notification, nobody is added, why?
A. To add a user to the notification list after right clicking on their
name from the user list, click on Add in the Notification dialog box and
the user name will populate your Notification list.
Q. When I use /quit IRC command in other chat clients, I can send a message
by typing the message after the command. However when I do this in Chat
2.5, the message is truncated. Why does this happen?
A. You will have to use a colon after the command, but before the message
you want to send. If you type "/quit :the message", the message will be
displayed in the chat clients of all the users in the rooms you were in.
Keywords: KB188130