Actually, it's not that hard! I can pretty much do it now. I've added my msn contact back into my profile so add me there and we can talk the way through if you get stuck.

1. Download and install Trillian. If you google Trillian, it will be the first link on the list. Make sure you download Trillian Basic (it's free). When you install Trillian, you will be asked which modules you wish to include - make sure you select IRC, you can use this program for MSN and other IM programs if you wish.

2. Start Trillian from the icon on your desktop. You will end up with a little blue icon in your system tray (bottom right hand corner of the desktop).

3. When the program starts, you should have at least one little button on the trillian window. IRC is white, click on that one and select "manage my connections". An "Identities and Connections" window will pop up.

4. At the bottom of this window you should see an "add new connection" button with a green cross. Click on this, and select IRC (This may not be necessary if you didn't install the other modules.

5. We now need to add some information in the various different boxes you can see.

Server alias - BellyBelly. This is just a name for your reference so you can call it something else if you wish.
Next box down needs to be: "au.austnet.org::6667". Without the quotes. There is an alternative way to get it, but if you copy that directly we can cut a few steps out.
Nickname - this is what you will be known by in the chat.
UserName and UserInfo - not terribly important, I just add my nickname in those boxes. You can add other information but it will be possible for others to see this.

6. If you want to connect to the BellyBelly chat automatically when you load Trillian, check the "Automatically connect to this account at startup box"

7. Click on the "Change..." button which is over to the right hand side of the window.

8. You should see a "Perform Buffer" section (under the connections tab) - check the box and the text box underneath should become available. In that text box type: "/join #BellyBelly" (without the quotes). Then click the "save settings" button.

9. It will pop back to the "Identities and Connections" window, you can now hit connect and you'll be in business! It can take a while before it runs through things, and the first time you connect the window will be quite small, but you can drag it out to be what ever size you want.

Done!

If someone can check out these instructions and make sure they make sense and it's possible to follow them, that would be great.

BW