How would I go about hosting my own IRC server on my computer?

See this post.

that post is pants u dont need a shell, many ircd's can run BG'd from windows now and they are just as stable.

www.unrealircd.com is one

go there and download either the windows version or the linux version.

You might want to have a read of the information available at IRChelp.org on IRCd operation - you can find it here.

PM