Assistance with Program Search

[KnightDisciple]

Okay, so I'm looking for a chatroom program. That is, I want a program that defaults to "multiple users in a single chatroom". The following are traits I desire:

-Simple to use. Needs to be GUI-based, so that people who are only at a basic level of computer literacy can use them. If the program requires an extra bit of initial setup, this is fine.
-Secure.
-Able to handle a large number of users at once (somewhere in the 40 or so range).
-Either uses a free web server (kind of like most IM programs), or allows for a company to set up a local server (again for free).

Essentially, my Helpdesk is looking for extra lines of communications with our clients, and I've taken on the task of finding a solid option or two for a "chatroom".

So, any suggestions?

[Don Julio Anejo]

Check out mIRC (http://www.mirc.com/). From my experience with it, it's almost exactly what you're looking for. The only downside is that its GUI is somewhat complicated so completely computer illiterate will probably be confused by it.

[Rawhide]

My first reaction to you wanting a program for chatrooms was IRC and MSN, but neither of them are secure.

mIRC is an IRC client only, you will also need to set up an IRC server (or several IRC servers), and it is not free. IRC suffers from spoofing, denial of service attacks, snooping/sniffing and many other security problems. It lacks a good system for authentication and non-repudiation. On the CIA triad, IRC suffers with some pretty big confidentiality, integrity and availability problems.

You can install an IRC server on on your webserver(s) and then a person can connect to it using any IRC client, such as mIRC or a java (or other language) based web client also installed on your server (meaning that they don't have to install a local client).

Alternatively, you can set up a channel on an existing IRC network, which may be more robust, but you will have far less control over it and will probably have even bigger problems in other areas.


I don't know the chatroom capabilities of MSN Messenger, as I've never really used them, but I know that people around here seem to use them a lot. Many companies have staff who use MSN to communicate with their clients. The services are maintained by an external party, Microsoft, and the client is either installed or easy to get for most systems.

MSN Messenger has a much more robust network and far better authentication. It still suffers heavily from confidentiality and integrity/non-repudiation issues though.

If your communications were strictly one-to-one, and not chatroom style, these problems could be overcome by installing a third party encryption program that has a plugin for MSN. This is harder to manage in a chatroom environment, however.


Neither is perfect but, depending on how the chatroom feature in MSN works, this might be a better option than IRC. Though, I will let someone else weigh in on how the chatroom functions.

[KnightDisciple]

We in the helpdesk currently use the "chatroom" function that's inside AOL Instant Messenger. It's an option, but not a great one.

Sounds like mIRC isn't really a good choice; this program has to be usable by those who are just barely computer literate.