I bet I get more Xbox hacking questions via e-mail than the Pope gets prayer requests. Seriously – I look at the subject headings of my e-mails and 99% of them say, “Please help!” -- Well, guess what? I'm delighted to help! I think that Xbox hacking is delightfully entertaining, and I really get a kick out of hooking new Xbox modders up with the information they need to mod their Xbox's.

With that said, there are certain questions that I expect to receive each and every day. The most popular questions are “Where do I download Evox” and “Can you help me find the Xecuter Xbox Bios?” -- My short answer to those questions is YES! I can help you get your grubby little hacker hands on Evox and the Xecuter bios. The long answer to those questions is that you're probably going to have to learn a few things about IRC and FTP. Read on my child... read on...

There are a variety of methods to locate and download the latest Xbox hacking tools and utilities. You could use a p2p program such as BitTorrent or DC++, you could search the binary newsgroups, you could even Google for a website that offers a direct download to the programs (good luck with this one). However, in my experience, the most reliable and straightforward way to obtain the latest Xbox programs is with a combination of IRC and FTP.

If you're not exactly sure what IRC and/or FTP is, don't sweat it – a lot of people are still not really familiar with these. Here's a short explanation. If you already know what IRC and FTP are, then just cut to the instructions on how to get the goods.

IRC is short for Internet Relay Chat. IRC is one of the oldest methods for communicating/chatting in real time with other users. IRC is sort of like a really old version of AOL/MSN/Yahoo instant messenger. Basically, IRC is both a protocol and a program.

To use IRC, you need to download an IRC client such as mIRC (for windows users) in order to connect to the IRC protocol. The client (mIRC) is the actual program that you install and run on your computer. When you run the IRC client, you can connect to an IRC server (there are LOTS of IRC servers, but only a few that are really popular).

On each IRC server, there are channels. Each IRC channel is dedicated to a particular topic. For example, on a particular IRC server you may find channels related to anything from Xbox hacking to playing poker. You can join multiple channels at one time, and inside each channel there are other users just like you. Once you're in the channel you can chat with those users publicly, or you can PM (private message) a particular user to chat privately.

There are also robots that sit in some channels. The robots can do many different things, but for the purpose of this article all you need to know is that there is a robot in an IRC channel that is going to give you a username and password to connect to an FTP site so you can download Xbox tools. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and it's a very common way to transfer files between two computers connected to the Internet. Like IRC, to use FTP you have to download a special piece of software called an FTP client. There are literally hundreds of FTP clients. Some of the more popular FTP clients are WS_FTP and CuteFTP. Using you FTP client, you can connect to an FTP site. This basically just means that you're connecting to another computer on the Internet in order to exchange files with that particular computer.

This is where your prayers are answered. There is a very special FTP site that contains practically every Xbox tool or utility ever made. You will find all kinds of Xbox programs – Xbox bios's such as Xecuter, Xenium, Evox; Xbox dashboards such as Evox, NeXgen, AVALaunch, UnleashX; Xbox Media players such as XBMC (Xbox Media Center), and XBMP (Xbox Media Player); and TONS of video game emulators that you can run on your Xbox including Atari 2600, N64, Gameboy, SNES, etc. In short – By connecting to this particular FTP server you have discovered the HOLY GRAIL of Xbox programs.

However, before you can connect to this very special, very private FTP site, you're going to need a username and password. That's why you have to visit IRC – You need to chat with a robot in an IRC channel, and the robot will give you the username and password to connect to the FTP server. This whole process only takes about 30 seconds, and it's absolutely FREE. See, there are lots of other generous Xbox hackers.

So, now that you have a general idea of what's going on, here are the Step-by-step instructions.

Using an IRC client (like mIRC) connect to an EFNet server. Here's a list of popular EFNet servers. Two that I recommend are: irc.Prison.NET and ircd.servercentral.net.

Once connected to EFNet, join the IRC channel #xbins. There are other popular Xbox hacking channels including #xbox-scene and #teamxecuter. However, #xbins is where the robot lives that you need to talk to. To join the #xbins channel type this into your IRC client -- “/join #xbins” (no quotes).

After you join the #xbins channel, you need to send a private message to the robot to get a username and password for the FTP site. Type this into the channel -- “/msg xbins !list” (no quotes). You just sent a message to a robot named xbins. In a few seconds you should receive a private message back that gives you the username and password you will need to access the xbins FTP site. Note, that you must remain in the xbins channel on IRC while you connect to the FTP site.

When you have your username and password, open up your FTP client (such as CuteFTP). Type in the FTP site name that the robot gave you (usually distribution.xbins.org), and also type in the username and password that the robot gave you, then connect to the FTP site.

Boom! There you are. You are now connected to the FTP site that is the holy grail of Xbox hacking tools, programs and utilities. You can transfer any file you want from this FTP site to your computer.

I should mention that some of the programs on the xbins FTP site might be in violation of Microsoft's intellectual property rights because they are built with hacked code owned by Microsoft. By downloading and using these programs you are taking a very real risk. You may be breaking the law in some jurisdictions. So, I'm certainly not advocating that you actually utilize the information contained in this guide – But, at least you're armed with the information now.