When deploying an IRC server on legacy Windows XP systems, these three options consistently perform well in LAN environments:

// Example: InspIRCd Windows Service Installation
sc create InspIRCd binPath= "C:\irc\InspIRCd\inspircd.exe --nofork" 
start= auto DisplayName= "InspIRCd Service"

Cygwin-based servers offer Unix-like functionality while maintaining Windows compatibility:

# ngIRCd Cygwin compilation example
./configure --prefix=/cygdrive/c/irc/ngircd \
            --with-syslog \
            --with-ident \
            --enable-ipv6
make install

These settings prove essential for stable LAN operation:

# UnrealIRCd server block example
server {
    name "lan.chat.local";
    info "Internal Company IRC";
    ports 6667, 6668, 6669;
    maxclients 100;
    password "internal!secure";
};

For resource-constrained XP machines:

• Set worker thread count to match CPU cores
• Disable ident lookups for internal networks
• Implement connection rate limiting

Windows-specific problems often involve:

netsh firewall add portopening TCP 6667 "IRC Server"

When setting up an IRC server on legacy Windows XP systems, these three solutions consistently outperform others in stability and feature sets:

// Example: Inspircd Windows Service Installation
sc create InspIRCd binpath= "C:\irc\InspIRCd\inspircd.exe" start= auto
sc failure InspIRCd actions= restart/60000/restart/60000/restart/60000

The Windows port of Hybrid offers enterprise-grade features while maintaining XP compatibility. Key configuration parameters:

# hybridircd.conf (excerpt)
server {
    name = "lan.irc.example";
    desc = "Corporate LAN IRC";
    network_name = "LANNET";
};
listen {
    port = 6667;
    sslport = 6697;
};

For Cygwin deployments, these kernel parameters significantly improve performance:

# /etc/sysctl.conf additions
kern.sched.hardclock_ticks=3
kern.ipc.maxsockbuf=8000000
kern.ipc.somaxconn=2048

Essential netsh commands for proper IRC traffic routing:

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="IRC Standard" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=6667
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="IRC SSL" dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=6697

Verify server accessibility using PowerShell:

Test-NetConnection -ComputerName localhost -Port 6667
Test-NetConnection -ComputerName localhost -Port 6697

For persistent connection monitoring, implement this batch script:

@echo off
:loop
netstat -ano | findstr ":6667" > nul || (
    echo %time% - IRC service down >> irc_monitor.log
    net start InspIRCd
)
timeout /t 30 > nul
goto loop