Why I registered mIRC
For those that don’t know… mIRC is communication software, otherwise known as an IRC client. IRC (or Internet Relay Chat) to me is a place where people can come together to discuss a shared interest to form a community.
To be a part of these communities is very rewarding in essence that by networking with people you can get involved in things you wouldn’t normally be involved in, while also having the ability to seek advise or help others. The scope of IRC goes far beyond this.
I use mIRC on a daily basis to communicate with friends in these communities, I also use it as a scripting platform for many things from returning the exchange rate to locating a site via google to checking if a domain is taken. The possibilities are endless.
In light of the release of mIRC 6.3 (16-Aug-2007), and after this thread, I have decided to purchase a license.
This shocked many people as I have been infamously recognised as creating both a keygen in mIRC (regmirc.mrc) and in Eggdrop (regmirc.tcl) for mIRC that will generate a registration key. (Both of which were based on an algorithm by Nitrus).
Spending time as I did in this scene when I was younger was always fun (like anything illegal), and I enjoyed the challenges however as I have gotten older (and wiser) I’ve mostly left the scene behind.
The scene is a thank-less mess of politics and power hungry nobodies, people with far too much spare time, and no real job. No matter how many times it tries to come back, it’s always the same.
Back in the day (with the help of tonix) we even wrote a script that would use mIRC to bit write patch the “mirc.exe” to remove the CTCP version (which is hardcoded into mIRC and can’t be disabled):
//rename mirc.exe x | copy x mirc.exe | bwrite mirc.exe 1441091 x
Note: This will NOT work on recent versions, this was the correct byte position for an older version of mIRC (I forget which), besides making changes to the “mirc.exe” is against their terms, regardless whether you were able to do it from mIRC or not
We also realised the “bwrite” (which is a standard function of mIRC) could also be used to patch “mirc.exe” to make it accept any name and registration key you entered, however in recent versions a CRC check was introduced that meant making changes to “mirc.exe” would cause it to error. The regmirc keygen method always worked, and could be done within mIRC as well.
The algorithm used in the “regmirc” keygen has worked since the first public release right up until mIRC 6.3. This is the first release where the serial you enter is verified online. This is not a problem, as even though it is checked, and could come back as invalid, you could still use the software if you wanted to regardless, however you are now faced with a nag screen claiming your trail has expired, to which you must wait for the ‘continue’ button to appear use the software.
It almost goes without saying that even the online verification can be bypassed either by doing patching “mirc.exe” to over-ride or disable the check or by faking the response from the verification server using your localhost. Both these methods could be written into mIRC as a script.
But why? Here are the reasons why I shouldn’t:
- mIRC always has been there and it continues to maintain it’s position.
- I’ve coded many scripts in mIRC and have become quite established in the community.
- Khaled has replied to all my emails directly so far. He’s a nice chap.
- Obviously they’ve made a concious effort to add the online check for a reason.
- mIRC has never become unusable after the trial period has ended, although the trial period is only 30 days, you are able to continue to use it beyond that.
- I am no longer a kid, or a student, I work for a living, I have no excuse.
- Based on my ‘morals of downloading’, mIRC falls under “If you like the software and cannot live without it, pay for it”.
- I wish to invest into the future of this product.
- Once it’s paid for, it’s paid for, the license will work on all future versions of mIRC.
- It’s only $20, due to the weak dollar at the moment, that’s less than £10, i’ve spent more than that on domains I don’t even need.
- At time of writing, I have been using this copy of mIRC for 1652 days, that’s about 4.5 years.
My $20 has been long over-due.
I have nothing to hide, I have paid my dues and now I’d like to encourage others to do the same and register mIRC.
Related posts:
- Twitter for mIRC I signed up for Twitter quite some months ago, but...
- Seen script for mIRC updated Looking for someone? huh? Well, look no further, this script...
- Setting up a FreeBSD socks proxy server for use with mIRC I’m getting fed up with my current IRC BNC software....
s said,
October 29, 2007 @ 12:11 pm
It almost goes without saying that even the online verification can be bypassed either by doing patching “mirc.exe” to over-ride or disable the check or by faking the response from the verification server using your localhost. Both these methods could be written into mIRC as a script.
But why? Here are the reasons why I shouldn’t
One reason why you should… i coz some people are still young and dont have the money and the job u do now. we are at the point you were many years ago.
will you write us a script to patch mirc?
hm2k said,
October 29, 2007 @ 12:24 pm
Firstly, legally, I’m not allowed to do that, secondly, I wouldn’t do that for the above reasons, mainly because you can continue to use it regardless.
My suggestion would be to contact Khaled, tell him your situation and you may find he’d be willing to help you out, having said this, even when I was a student I could afford £10.
ELY M. said,
November 4, 2007 @ 10:42 am
I really hate how Khaled done with mirc 6.31. Im not happy at all.
I really hate his new icons and the crc checker thing in the mirc.
I have to ollydbg and change all icons to the old ones and my icons.
Peter said,
November 7, 2007 @ 2:20 pm
A thought-provoking post, HM2K. I must admit I’ve also consciously cracked the program. And once those tools are available, it’s hard to ignore them in next versions. Pay the E13,60 or save the money by a handful of commands. With Khalad’s renewed efforts and the use of mIRC over the past 7 years, it’s like you said: long over due. But not beyond redemption. Thanks for the insight
Regards,
Peter
Jeffrey said,
November 13, 2007 @ 6:05 pm
Well, I must say that even a child can affort software of 20 dollar…
I would understand it if you where talking about Creative Suite or Office for educational purposes, but thats not the thing, is it?
[email protected] said,
March 5, 2008 @ 4:53 pm
Hey there really is NO point in registering mirc… i mean come on, u get to still play it, only if hed delted that button,
Its a waste of money and anyway if ur 0 days is over then the button is REALLY annoying
I know how to get past it, just rewind time on ur computer clock and its simple :O
Just dont bother paying
HM2K.com » Recording an IRC channel on Windows said,
April 22, 2008 @ 1:50 pm
[...] PS. If you like mIRC, please register. [...]
littleRiver said,
May 22, 2008 @ 6:09 pm
Well, I am not interested to pay this 10 Pound.. even its a very low amount for me! Because, mIRC or any such IRC client just motivating you to spend your most valuable time in a crap stuff like irc chat or so!
zK said,
June 18, 2008 @ 5:10 pm
Happy still good people exist, best regards hm2k.
zK.
Chryyz said,
July 15, 2008 @ 8:39 pm
You don’t have to rewind your time on the computer… My god some people just lack that thing that floats around in your skull…
I would aswell like to encourage the purchase of a legal registration key, but for those who don’t have the money to spend on an IRC program…
Start ->
Run ->
regedit ->
Edit ->
Find ->
mIRC ->
Delete the entry on the right, then hit F3 and continue with this process until hitting F3 immediately displays a message telling you that it’s finished the search. Then close regedit, start mIRC again…. Your trial will be reset to 30 days.
Close mIRC. Reopen regedit, search for mIRC again, and you’ll have narrowed your search down to a single file which will read your mIRC directory, followed by a %1… All you have to do is delete this registry entry every 30 days.
Of course… a script can be written to do this for you… but I see no reason in giving that to you guys
Enjoy.
Bob said,
November 5, 2008 @ 8:54 am
I wonder why he doesn’t use a service like Trialpay where you can just sign up to a few things and get a registered version of whatever software for nothing?
A Smith said,
December 15, 2008 @ 11:48 am
Registering mIRC is still as easy as using the keygen. The only difference now is you have to register in someones name who has already registered. I used the same keygen and just used a common name that I was sure would be registered and it worked.
hm2k said,
December 15, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
Sure, until they see all these different IPs across the world registering as “John Smith” or something. It’s only a matter of time before they put a stop to it. Just pay your dues.
icemanx said,
January 31, 2009 @ 5:03 am
lol and you are going to have idiots still wanting to crack it because they just want to steal a copy
have a great day HM2K
kozmonaut said,
February 9, 2009 @ 11:35 am
yeh, i registered because i’ve been using it for like 10 years, its worth it i guess!
Kjartan said,
May 21, 2010 @ 9:43 am
Paid for it, happy as can be!