Thanks for your replies.

[18:19:41] * Connecting to chat.freenode.net (+6697)
[18:19:41] * Unable to connect to server (SSL certificate chain error)

Indeed, other servers also make trouble when using SSL.

Your echo gives:
1.1.1.4 G:\mIRC\mirc.exe G:\mIRC\mirc.exe
Some years ago I had some DDLs like libeay32 and libssl32 inside G:\mIRC, but these have been removed by me some years ago (as mIRC included them)

Humm, weird.... any ideas?