Hey all you ossg chat room wanna bees,

Here are the instructions that MichelleR wrote out for getting you to
the ossg chat room.  

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Ok, here it goes. I am going to do a step by step (and I mean step by
step!) on how to get on mIRC and how to get into the #OSSG channel

1) Go to http//www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/1976/index.html
This is where you can download mIRC. There are other webpages where you
can download it but I happen to like this page. Scroll down the page
until you find where it says "Download mIRC Below" Next step....

2) You need to find out if you can use 16-bit or 32-bit. If you do not
know, go with 32-bit since that is your best bet. If you have
Windows3.1 then click on the link that says "mIRC 5.3 Win 3.1 16-bit",
if you have Windows95 or WindowsNT click on the link that says "mIRC 5.3 
Win 95/NT 32-bit". next step.....

3)You will be asked whether you want "more info", "pick App", "Save
File" or "Cancel". Choose "Save File". Then it will ask you which
directory you want to save the file in. You can pick whichever one you
want and hit "Save". Next step...

4) After you save the file. You need to click on it and it will open up
and hopefully tell you that it's been successfully installed! Next
step..

5) when you open up mIRC you will see quite a few graphics. Hit the
little yellow folder (IRC setup) and it should open up. You will see 
"IRC servers", "Local info", "options", "Identd", "Firewall". In "irc
servers" you need to type your name, your email address and a nickname
and alternative nick name. In "Local info" leave everything blank. In
"options" my suggestion is to click all 4 boxes and click on the box
that says Retry and put the number "10" in the first box and "25" in
the second box. In "Identd", click the first box and in user id, type 
your name or anything else (it can be any word, it doesn't matter). 
Don't touch anything else in "Identd". In "Firewall", you don't touch
anything. Now hit "Ok" at the bottom of the screen. Next step....

6) Open the yellow folder (mIRC setup) again and go to "IRC Servers"
again. You should see a thin window that lists alot of servers with
names such as DALNET, ANOTHERNET, CHATNET, UNDERNET. Scroll down until
you reach Chatnet and pick any one of the chatnet servers (usually one
that is semi-close to you in location). For example, I picked
ChatnetUS, CA, SanFrancisco. Then just simply hit "Connect to IRC
server" right below that thin window. Next step.....

7)Your almost there. I promise you! Ok, hopefully you connected. If
not, try another Chatnet server. Sometimes they are slow or down or 
they just don't like you (just kidding). Once you are connected, type 
this in the Status window (without quotes) "/join #ossg". And you 
should be there! Once in the channel, you hopefully will run into 
someone else. If not, keep trying back. Especially on Sunday evenings 
when there are alot of us there! Next step...

8) There are tons of fun features on mIRC but you can learn them later.
Read the rest of the webpage to learn some of them or ask people once
your on mIRC. Hope this helps.