Bitcoin Forum

So if I have a pc wallet do I really need a website wallet too or is the desktop one fine? I presume when I put coins in it I just copy and paste the address to whomever I buy the coins off? This is the part that really annoys me. All I want to do is click a few links jam my paypal in or bank details and bam there's my coins, but it seems here in the uk you need to spend time reading things and taking an interest in things that I suppose are pretty cool now I'm learning about it, but all I want is to be able to use the bloody bitcoins.

My mum says im special ok

It's OK to ask questions, no need to defend yourself. I think that's the reason there is a noob section.

If that annoys some people they can always create a Bitcoin Professionals board and stay there.

To your question:

You basically only need one wallet, but you can have more, see it as accounts in different banks. While with your pc wallet you are your own bank (this also means you have to take care of security and backups yourself!)

Year, bitcoin is still not perfectly user-friendly. It's like DOS and as reagular banking customer you are used to win7. But it's being improved every day. Also I read that you in the UK have some difficultys to get BTC recently.

Try https://bitmarket.eu, there is a GBP marked.

If you run windows OS its not a bad idea in my opinion to have the bitcoin client running in a vmware or virtualbox.

Dont forget to backup your wallet on a seperate harddrive.

As for different wallets, it really depends on your needs and on the effort you want to invest to protect yourself from loss.
The options im aware of are:

1. Wallet on your own pc
2. Wallet on a vps/dedi
3. Wallet on a managed vps/dedi
4. Online wallet service
5. Exchanges where you can keep a wallet.

Frankly, I'm glad you ask questions! Far too few newbies do. First of all, you can have both, but it's not necessary to. If you want accessibility, I'd recommend blockchain.info's wallet. Here's why.

• All encryption is done client side. That means that the blockchain.info can't see your wallet at all without your passkey.
• They allow automatic encrypted backups to multiple services including email, dropbox, and Google Drive
• They have a shit ton of features. (https://blockchain.info/wallet/features)
• Even if Blockchain.info's servers get incinerated in a firey explosion at the end of the world, and you need your Bitcoins to pay the ransom for your sister that you didn't know existed before that day, all backups are kept in a way that is accessible to any Bitcoin client anywhere. It's also encrypted with AES, so you can decrypt the wallet without access to blockchain using a tool like this. (http://www.aescrypt.com/download.html)
• They have all kind of cool gadgets you can play around with on blockchain :)

However, if you are OCD about keeping complete control over your wallet, I'd recommend a local wallet. Or even better, a cold storage wallet on a Linux USB drive with armory installed.

Check out this site for info http://bitcoinsecurity.com/

That's the best approach if you want security and privacy.
Although blockchain.info does seem interesting, it's still possible that a malware in the computer you use to access it steal your password*, and, with it, your money. Plus, as it's a web wallet, the servers at blockchain.info are capable of seeing everything you do with your money.

*By the way, that may happen with any desktop wallet as well. If you access your money from a generic computer you use to access the web, then you are taking risks. If you're storing only small amounts, then you don't need to worry that much. I myself have some BTCs here in this same computer I use to access the web. From the moment you start to put larger amounts, consider the option of an offline wallet.

Thanks for this.

Actually, it's impossible for Blockchain to touch your wallet without your passkey, and with their current setup, there is no way to capture their passkey. They also have a JS verifier to show if the javascript has been modified in any way.

Why there's no way to capture the passkey? A malware in the user's computer can always capture what's typed/clicked/etc.

He means that there is no way for anyone sniffing on Blockchain's side of the connection to capture the passkey, but I'm not sure that I agree with that statement.

If you have malware on your computer, a local bitcoin client isn't safe either.

If you aren't confident you can secure your own computer Bitcoin may not be for you.

I take credit cards, but you must be verified first.
Bitcoin-keys.com (http://Bitcoin-keys.com)

It's possible to sniff it, but improbable that that will ever happen. If Blockchain wanted to do it, they have ways to, but they're easy enough to detect. The validator freaks right the fuck out whenever my computer bugs out on javascript, which is a lot thanks to some disk errors that I haven't taken the time to iron out. Theoretically, they could sniff and brute force the HTTPS encrypted traffic (actually a rather easy attack), but the chances of them capturing anything that leads to a high value wallet is rather low. (This is just my personal analysis.) The chance of XSS is also low, and SQL Injection is useless as far as I can tell. (No I haven't tried it, but I've analyzed the site for my own sake) Anyways, local malware is the biggest threat.

I use blockchain, but most of my bitcoins are stored in a brain wallet - I watch this address on blockchain, and they provide the tools to allow me to access these coins if I need to.
It's the best of all possible worlds.
If someone hacks my account they can at best steal 3 bitcoins. The rest are safe.

Very smart idea :) I may start doing that ^_^ Also, keeping wallet backups is important. Just a note. I keep my encrypted backups in 3 places.