public ConnectionEngine() throws IOException {

		System.out.println(System.getProperty("user.home"));
		String os = System.getProperty("os.name").toLowerCase();
		String userHome = System.getProperty("user.home");

		if(os.contains("mac os x")) {
			settingsDir = userHome+"/Library/Application Support/JIRCC";
		} else if (os.contains("windows")) {
			settingsDir = userHome+"\\Documents\\JIRCC";
		} else if (os.contains("linux")) {
			settingsDir = userHome + "/JIRCC/connections";
		} else if (os.contains("bsd")) {
			settingsDir = userHome +"/JIRCC/connections";
		}

		File dir = new File(settingsDir);
		System.out.println(dir.getAbsolutePath());

		if(!dir.exists()) {
			System.out.println("making new directory");
			dir.mkdir();
		}		

		loadConnection();

		//public IRCConnection(String host, int port, String pass, String nick, 
		//		String username, String realname, String encoding) 
	}