If you ever experience an issue with displaying unicode characters, try type:
/setoptions Messages UseDrawText True
This will enable a different method for drawing messages.
To disable, type:
/setoptions Messages UseDrawText False
If you need to be authed with nickserv before joining a channel, you can use the /sleep (or /timer) command in your serverlist "Run these commands on connect" field:
/msg nickserv identify <password> /sleep 3 /join #channel1,#channel2
/sleep 3, means wait 3 seconds before running the following command.