what does this mean? I am already connected to the internet but all my applications can't connect to the web, including mirc... the other applications don't say a thing whereas mirc displays the 'unable to create socket' error... pls help.. thanks a lot! MIRC ROCKS!

Sockets are basically connections to send and receive information. I wouldn't worry about it, it just means the socket can't be opened which is a life saver if the socket is malicious. Judging from your post you probably use a mIRC script or a friend has sent you a mIRC addon with sockets in it. I'm not going to tell you to unload it just incase it's one of your scripts core files so here's my advice go here and download the latest version of mIRC which is 100% safe and totally fresh, well except the standard aliases.

You can customize your mIRC to suit your needs (On Join / On Part) events, changing the background colour or image. Colours of your text etc.

If you have any other queries about setting up mIRC we're glad to help.

Take care now,

-Andy

Maybe your firewall blocks all connections, just disable it and if it works, so the problem was your firewall. Also, Microsoft Windows XP SP2 has an integrated firewall that is turned on by default after installing SP2, so you can check this firewall too.

Didn't think of that.