Forums General Discussion It feels sticky..

Yea well,
I've been using mIRC for many years. It has always worked well, even on my old crappy machine with I started IRC'ing. Nowadays I still IRC a lot, prolly more than ever, because I am still Windows user (also) I use mIRC while IRC'ing on it. My mIRC version of course is the newest 6.12.

However some time ago I needed to IRC for a while with 5.82 version because I formatted HDDs and I found installing pack of that and decided to try it once again, kinda returning to older days just for a while (nostalgic you see) Well I was very surprised, felt so fast, even with many channels.. my computer is *just* P3 750MHz 320MB RAM (well still should be enough for IRC'ing) but 6.xx versions have felt so sticky on that when compared to 5.xx versions.

I started to compare these versions more when I again installed newest client...now I think that I downgrade and that really isn't what I usually would do with any program. Reason to this is just that 5.xx versions do with reasonable speed what they need to do. If I have more than 5 windows open on 6.xx version it becomes very sticky and selecting text is laggy. In 5.xx versions this all happens so fast without lag, still clients of both version look almost the same, only few changes in menus.

Well anyway, this isn't any whining thread, I just want to hear that have anyone else had the same experience and even stayed with 5.xx versions for that reason? I would myself stay with pleasure with 6.xx as it has for example multiserver support but the sticky acting of it when compared to 5.xx versions is really harassing me.

That's it folks, peace

PS. Where has that about button which makes "sounds" like "Yak!" and "nanoo nanoo" when pressed with secondary mouse button disappeared from 6.xx versions? In 5.xx versions it still existed, now I can only make smile on about button with 6.xx which is also possible on 5.xx versions

I agree.

mIRC has gotten noticably sluggish over the last several releases. I couldn't begin to guess what core changes are responsible for this, but whatever it is, we all notice it.

I dabble a lot with previous versions; every old version installed and configured for instant testing. I do a lot of backtracking out of morbid curiosity to see when a bug was first introduced into a feature, or visa versa. It's painfully obvious that the v3.x and v4.x are screaming fast (though not entirely stable), and v5.x is both fast and mostly harmless. v6.12 simply lives by the adage, "slow and steady wins the race."

We can only guess what Khaled has in store for the future.

- Raccoon

PS. That easter egg was removed, though, my aformentioned morbid fixation has inspired this little creation you can stare at. It contains all of the 40+ quotes that have appeared on the About icon over the course of mIRC's history. (including every subtlety because I'm just that anal.) You may also find this post of interest.

There needs to be a version dedicated to bug fixes only. Aside from that the people that Khaled lets beta-test mIRC need to do a more thorough job. Test mIRC on all operating systems that it is designed for, test mIRC's ability to do the simple things like joining rooms but also more technical things that are still commonly used such as bans (remember the ban bug in V5.71 - it would always set a domain ban regardless of the type selected) and the current timestamp issue for those living in areas that have daylight savings. These are things that testers should notice before a release.

As for sluggishness, I haven't noticed it though mIRC is around twice the size it used to be and the more complex the code the longer it will take to execute. A couple of questions that could be added to this discussion are: Is mIRC now too complex and feature-rich to be able to do a decent bugfix? and: If mIRC is sluggish to some people, is it being developed in the best environment and using the best programming langauge possible?

I thought it would be good if I also told my operating system. So my Windows OS is Windows 2000 Professional with Service pack 4 and on Pentium3 750MHz system with 320MB RAM.

Although this my wreck isn't even near the best PCs you can have today I still consider that it should be enough to run little win proggies such as the mIRC. I also think that everything shouldn't grow endlessly although there all the time comes more resources to computers available with more powerful components. I like mIRC more than any other IRC-client mainly because it has GUI - I have so used to it that I feel bored when I irc with text-based clients. Still I feel also bored if program feels sticky. Maybe I could just update also my Windows machine to get mIRC running smoothly but it feels a pretty useless just for one program, although the program would be good and probably worth it.

However people have already IRC'ed over a decade ago so the idea is still the same and pretty simple, shouldn't build too huge programs around this thing...or maybe I am just wrong and don't see some point I should. If it's like that, wake me up from my dream, please..

Thanks for reading, peace

The machine I am currently using is: 200 MHz CPU, 96 MB RAM, Windows 98 SE.

My mIRC runs probably just as fast as it does on your system, and everyone else's system. It seems though, that mIRC often claims 100% CPU time regardless of the speed of your system. This will cause sluggishness in any environment.

I only really notice speed issues when it comes to window painting (aka: scrolling). This effects everything from connecting, MOTD displaying, netsplits, join/part floods, and even picture window drawing. You will see that most speed complaints on this forum boil down to display updating.

- Raccoon

One thing you haven't specified is if you're running any scripts. You mentioned mIRC getting sluggish with the release of version 6, which is of course when multi-server support was added. Multi-server support is one of the things that is most likely to make inefficient or excessive code slow mIRC down noticeably in the way that you've mentioned. If you are using scripts you should try unloading them and restarting, then see if mIRC's performance is any better. If that is the problem then you should either look for a new script or try and fix the one you've got by streamlining code - especially any code related to events such as on INPUT, on NOTICE, and on TEXT.

I run mIRC on a couple of machines (usually a P500, 384MB RAM) and I never experience any sluggishness, at least none that I can't easily explain by way of other apps using resources heavily.

Well, I've got a script which tells which .mp3 I am playing, but that's all, no other scripts are in use. I tried to unload it, then tested mIRC but it didn't have accelerative effect. I am not connected to multiple servers, only to one network at the moment.