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I don't use AOL. I know almost nothing about AOL and how to get on IRC from AOL. My personal advice is to get a REAL ISP and get on IRC and the Net from there. It's cheaper and EVERYTHING is available to you without censorship by AOL.

How to Get on IRC from AOL
1. You should be running Windows 95, 98, 2000, or XP. You CAN get onto IRC with a Mac, but NOT from AOL.

2. Your best bet is to run a current version of America Online. Check your version of AOL by clicking on HELP, then ABOUT, on the Menu bar. If you have version 2.0 (or earlier), go to keyword (Control + K) UPGRADE and download AND INSTALL the latest version.

3. If you're running version 3.0 (or earlier), you need AOL's WINSOCK.DLL file. (Trumpet Winsock.dll will NOT work.) Go to keyword (control + K) WINSOCK. This will take you to the Winsock Messages Boards where you can find help. If you are upgrading from Windows 3.x to Windows 95, be sure to use the keyword GET95.

NOTE: When you upgrade to the AOL Winsock, immediately locate the old windock.dll and rename it winsock.aol because the upgrade does not rename or delete the old winsock.dll file. Failure to do so may cause problems!! Also, after upgrading the winsock.dll, restart your computer and always connect to AOL before starting mIRC.

4. Select Help from your menu bar, then About America Online. If you do not see "for windows 95 and windows 98 revision," your AOL software is using a 16-bit winsock. Be sure to download and install the 16-bit version of mIRC. Also, if you're running Windows NT, you must run the 16-bit version of mIRC.

NOTE: If you're running Windows 2000, Mellinium, or XP, and you're using AOL version 6.0 thru 9.0, you shouldn't need to worry about installing the AOL winsock.dll. Just download and install the 32 bit version of mIRC. I don't know if this works with versions between 3.0 and 6.0, so if anyone knows, please drop me a line!

Now you can download and install an IRC client. Go back to the IRC Clients page and download mIRC. For instructions on how to install and setup mIRC click here.

If you download and install mIRC successfully but have trouble connecting to IRC (the message Unable to Resolve Local Host appears when you try to connect to a server), then download and install the 16-bit version of mIRC.

5. The final thing you'll need for IRC is the name of an IRC SERVER. The IRC server is your entry point for using IRC. Your IRC client (mIRC) running on your PC must connect to an IRC server before you can begin chatting.

AOL now allows you to connect to a NON-AOL server on port of 6667. If a server allows connecting with this port, you can use it. You can connect to DALnet by typing in /server irc.dal.net 7000.