mIRC, what is it, and how do I delete?

[gromit77]

Hi,

When I boot up my PC now, and the task bar items come up etc, I get something called mIRC_PeobSystem quickly followed by mIRC_JoeSystem coming up on my task bar then disapearing. I have no idea what these are, although I have a feeling mIRC has something to do with chat/messaging?!!?

I certainly didn't install these and don't know how they got there, however my system has been rubbish ever since. It freezes up, doesn't boot down properly all sorts of things. I've searched for mIRC and it finds nothing, I've manually checked through program files, system files and can't find a thing.

It is however in the ADD/REMOVE menu but when I click it, it says mIRC must be closed before I can uninstall. How do I close it. I've CTRL,ALT,DELETED and looked through the program list and can't see anything that looks like this mIRC thing?

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Thanks

Neil

[gromit77]

Sorted it!.... moments after posting I had an idea. I disabled the startup groups in MSconfig and rebooted then went to ADD/REMOVE. It was in PROGRAM FILES / NET MEETING deleted it and it seems to have done the trick My PC seems happier.

I'd still be interested to know what this thing was and why it would be sneakily installed on my PC without my consent?

Thanks

Neil

[Dave]

That seems suspiciously like it was one of the mIRC IRC (Internet Relay Chat) zombies. I.E. your computer connects to a server, from there, someone sends commands to your computer, through mIRC. Your computer could then be used to participate in DOS attacks, Denial Of Service Attacks. On the otherhand, someone may just have installed mIRC and told it to start automatically on boot :P