Nuked. Any survivors ?
IRC is nice when you feel like chatting with a lot of people at once.
All you need is IRC-client and good manners :) IRC-clients are easy to use. One of the most popular one is
mIRC. You may also want to try PIRCH.
And if you'd like to get even more simplified interface, just find appropriate "scripts".
However not all is so good, as might seem. Being on IRC, you can become the target for so-called "script kiddies".
It's not hackers - to tell the truth, it's hard to believe your PC will be interesting for a real hacker ( I doubt you're connecting
to the net from the server of your bank using root account. Am I right ? :). They usually won't try to hack you but can use some
ready-to-use programs to scan your computer for open ports and shares. The game will begin if they find ones, but I hope you're not going to
share your resources with the whole world. Install personal firewall to block such scans and to prevent
attacks like:
winnuke (Windows 95/NT/3.11) - "Blue Screen of Death" and "virtual device driver error" message. All network connections become dead but computer usually doesn't hang.
land (Windows 95/NT/3.11, other) - System crash.
teardrop (Windows 95/NT/3.11, Linux) - System crash or reboot.
newtear/bonk/boink (Windows 95/NT4) - "Blue Screen of Death" and system freeze.
ssping/jolt/ping of death (Windows 95/NT, other) - System hangs and can be rebooted only by power-off/on switch or Reset button.
smb (Windows NT4) - Memory fault processing "Server Message Block logon" request. Error messages looks like "STOP 0x0000000A". System hangs or going to reboot.
click (*) - Disconnect from the IRC-server with messages like "Connection reset by peer", "Connection refused", "Operation timed out" or "Host unreachable", depending on the target of attack (your PC or the server). TCP/IP stack and modem connections are ok.
ping flood (dial-up connections) - modem lamps "go mad", your internet applications slow down and at last you see the connection dropped. In this case someone with a good link tries to exceed your modem link capacity.
That is not a full list of exploits may be used to kick you from IRC-channel, but some systems are still not patched even to block these ones.
So get the latest patches for your OS and install personal firewall.
If you're using Unix, disable services you don't need and enable kernel-level filtering (or install firewall software).
If you're still sitting under Windows 3.x and has been "nuked" you should set BSDUrgent=0 in [MSTCP] section of your SYSTEM.INI file.
If you've got Win2K installed, check the services you don't need, stop them and then disable. This also will speed up your PC a little.
If someone on IRC sends "useful" program or script to you, DO NOT accept this file unless you're
absolutely sure there's no trojan (like script.ini, winhelper.exe, dmsetup.exe, mb.exe etc) inside.
And check "Show get dialog" option in mIRC (DCC, Options, Send, Show get dialog).
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