Yes, I know what DDE is, and what it's used for. That's why I'm asking what DDE has to do with this topic?
As far as I was aware, mIRC doesn't *USE* DDE for any of the URL matching it does. I've never turned it on and always had URL catcher working just fine.
So, unless the OP is talking about an external application reading packetnews spitting DDE requests out for mIRC to capture (and then completely failed to mention such), the use of DDE is moot for this thread.
