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What is a good option for somebody who wants to participate in IRC, but doesn't want to download a large application, register with any group, etc? Preferably something lite, having a nice feature-set, and easy to get up-and-running.

I'm on Windows, and I'd prefer something very easy and non-esoteric to work with.

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Define "light"? It sounds like you want power and functionality, without having to bother with either an application capable of doing that functionality, or having to learn how to use that functionality. I'm not trying to bash you, but these requirements are kind of opposites. Easy power is hard. – David Mackintosh Jul 16 '09 at 13:18
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Didn't see the Community checkbox or just a plain rep grab? – random♦ Jul 16 '09 at 13:18
@Jonathan: Are you answering your own question over an over again? Or is this a community-wiki and you're simply being crediting with all the answers (after editing?)? – Telemachus Jul 16 '09 at 13:21
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@Jonathan: Who is it possibly helping to (1) create a question and then (2) populate it with answer after answer after answer (all separate) of your own? The rep thing is nonsense anyhow, but "no more rep today" is disingenuous since you can get rep tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that. Put all your proposals in one answer, at least. Try letting others talk. – Telemachus Jul 16 '09 at 13:24
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At first glance this looks like a poll (especially with Jonathan's repeated answers to his own question). In most cases this would be grounds for a community wiki ("what is your favorite lightweight irc client" as an example), but with the way the question is worded it is more of a product recommendation style question. It just so happens that Jonathan is also providing answers. This is treading around the gray area, but from what I see it is still a valid regular question. – TheTXI Jul 16 '09 at 13:30
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9 Answers

up vote 9 down vote

If you are using Linux irssi is the lightest weight client I know of. Its all texted based in the termainal, so its incredibly small and portable.

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I'm using Windows, but I do use Linux from time to time. This is a good suggestion. If I had any votes left, I'd up-vote you. Thanks. – Jonathan Sampson Jul 16 '09 at 13:31
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irssi runs on Windows too, and the website has an official build, with installer. (It's a Cygwin build though) – grawity Jul 16 '09 at 13:52
@Jonathan Save it for tommorw them :) – Eric Koslow Jul 16 '09 at 14:36
I'll swing back by and up-vote you the first thing tomorrow, Eric :) – Jonathan Sampson Jul 16 '09 at 14:42
There's your up-vote, as promised ;) – Jonathan Sampson Jul 17 '09 at 0:41
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up vote 5 down vote

pidgin has a irc option, that seems to work reasonably well.

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pidgin's IRC isn't incredibly full featured (I haven't been able to do much CTCP or DCC w/ it) but it's quite good for general use. – Broam Oct 29 '10 at 17:08
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up vote 4 down vote

ChatZilla for Firefox - ChatZilla provides all the usual IRC client features: multiple servers, a built-in list of standard networks, easy searching and sorting of available channels, logging, and DCC chat and file transfers, plus easy customization with JavaScript plug-ins and CSS styling.

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Chatzilla is ok, but can make firefox a bit unstable after a while. – Jeremy French Jul 16 '09 at 13:16
I use Chatzilla every day and have not experienced anything in the way of instability. – TheTXI Jul 16 '09 at 13:32
Unless firefox is bloated with addons.. cleanup firefox and keep only what you use. – Mercer Traieste Jul 16 '09 at 16:23
Use ChatZilla on XULRunner: chatzilla.rdmsoft.com/xulrunner – Alex Barrett Dec 2 '09 at 1:33
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up vote 4 down vote

Weechat is an excellent light-weight client. It has support for multiple operating systems (Windows only with Cygwin, apparently), and it works both in a terminal and with a gui. (I should say that I only use the terminal version, but it's outstanding there. (Edit: I use it both in Linux (Debian) and OS X. Works well in both.) Still, I can only vouch for terminal versions.)

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Very cool. If I had any votes left, I'd up-vote this. – Jonathan Sampson Jul 16 '09 at 13:32
As promised, there's your up-vote. – Jonathan Sampson Jul 17 '09 at 0:41
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up vote 3 down vote

Use Mibbit, web-based client.

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Let's keep the commenting civil. – TheTXI Jul 16 '09 at 13:51
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up vote 1 down vote

mIRC is very lightweight, and very scriptable if you like to. If you want to go on opensource I suggest KVirc, maybe a bit less lightweight.

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To my dismay, mIRC is not free--which I only discovered after downloading and installing :( – Nick Aug 4 '09 at 13:47
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up vote 0 down vote

Freenode Web Chat - Freenode's web-based interface for logging in (no registration necessary) and participating in any number of IRC channels.

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up vote 0 down vote

XChat 2 is lightweight and there's a fully free (and open source) version for Windows available. I personally use Pidgin, but I've dabbled with XChat and it's nice and very lightweight.

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up vote 0 down vote

lightIRC (web client) may be worth a try. KVIrc when it comes to desktop applications.

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