First off, I hope EVERYONE see's this. Any admin should do all they can to make sure this gets properly published.

Ok, I am a Physical Security Specialist. One important part of my job is testing network security. About a year or so back, I designed a network in which I tested it's security daily using Multi-Threaded vulnerability scanners such as x-scan v1.3, nmap, accessdiver, ares, l0pht and eventually nessus. All of which I have used on different platforms(Win98,2000,XP). I have never had this problem from 98 or 2000, which makes me think this problem is an XP issue. All of these programs do consume quite a bit of bandwidth and memory. I started getting those [10053] errors, at the very time Microsoft came out with Service pack 2(which I did install) for XP. Ever since then, NONE of my Multi-Threaded scanners work, and if i try to scan ANYTHING, my mIRC hangs/disconnects, and gives the 10053 error. THIS DOES NOT ONLY AFFECT mIRC! It affects all programs initiating the tcp/ip protocol.

I have done extensive research on this, and I found some information relating it to Microsofts Service pack 2. It's said that ole Bill added pragma to restrict the flow of packets sent locally(and remotely, I believe).

No matter what he did, or what I may have done to start getting these errors,, It has rendered XP, mIRC, nmap, x-scan, etc. completely USELESS for me.

I uninstalled the Service pack 2, and It didn't work. So I re-installed Windows without the service pack. That worked for about a month then I installed Zone-Alarm, the problem came back.

Recap:
This is not only a mIRC issue.
This does affect ALL programs using tcp/ip protocol(Makes web browser/ftp/p2p etc. hang).
Although I can't pinpoint the problem for sure, assumption brings me to believe it's an XP issue with their Service pack 2, hence I've never had this problem on 98/2k.
If it's not XP, it's firewall issues.

BUT I HAVE FOUND THE SOLUTION!!!
Take this time to migrate to Linux Debian. It's 10x more stable, and security is infinately more advanced. Viruses only exist because windows allows them. Even though one could inject malicious code into a vulnerable Linux box, it can not spread itsself, because it's contained into it's specific module, hence there aren't any REAL viruses on Linux and no renegade registery keys to worry about. There is even an online installer to install it automatically.

I love mIRC too much, and have too small of a budget to buy pain relievers every time mIRC take's a nosedive.

I don't want to step over the line, but I urge Khalid and all of the developers to create a Linux distro, before irssi and xchat surpass mIRC's functionality. I would trust a halfassthrowntogetherbetaversion of mIRC on Linux way before that on Windows.

I hope this helps someone, and hope the world takes my advice about Linux, it's scary to switch, but well worth the ride. On that note: mIRC I love you but I gotta go.