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I'm giving up trying to get into Bitcoins. When I first heard about Bitcoin, I tried to get into mining; I thought I could just lend my computer's processing power out to generate Bitcoins in a pool-mining group, but I found out that unless you have immensely powerful, custom-made mining rigs set up, then mining won't earn you a single penny.
I tried to set up a wallet, but I had no idea how to operate it or secure it, as I'm only an average computer user. I recently also found out that my computer had a key-logger virus on it so I had to cancel and replace all my cards and passwords as I've made online purchases on my computer before. I tried to learn how to acquire and exchange Bitcoins but it required sending my personal information to shady, unreputable services that also required wire transfers, written checks and long validation times.
I also got scared by all the stories of scams, hacking and backlogged/bankrupt exchange services I've heard on here.
So unfortunately, after a month of trying to get into Bitcoin without even being able to get a single one, I'm giving up. I really hope that some reputable service providers start producing secure, easy-to-use and fool proof Bitcoin trading apps in the near future. Until then, the technical challenges and security risks just seem too high for me, so I'm out; sorry.
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If fciv is in C:\Windows, you can run it from anywhere. In that case,
fciv [____.exe] -sha1 --> Will run fciv on the file in question (____.exe = full file path)
If not,
cmd /K "cd /d c:\WINDOWS\" --> Will create a cmd window at the C:\Windows directory (replace c:\windows with the folder housing gpg4win-2.2.1)
fciv gpg4win-2.2.1.exe -sha1
When I typed cmd /K "cd /d c:\WINDOWS\" into the Command Prompt and C:\Users\username> changed into C:\Windows> in the Command Prompt. However, typing all those recommended commands fciv gpg4win-2.2.1.exe -sha1 and fciv gpg4win-2.2.1.exe -md5 yielded the same error message as before; " fciv is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file." |
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Could I have any extra bitcoins?
Dunno if she ever got any; her first post was about the difficulty in setting up a wallet. |
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I just have an ordinary, Windows 8 laptop; I have no idea what kind of security features it has or if it's secure; I don't know if I've ever been hacked or had a virus. I have no idea if it's safe to set up a wallet on my computer. What can I do? What can an average computer user do to set up a safe, secure Wallet and keep their Bitcoins as hack/scam-proof as possible?
Do you have antivirus software installed? Do you have a two-way firewall installed? If not then consider your computer as insecure and don't use it for anything important or valuable. If you don't know then consider it insecure. Good, free, easy to use software packages are AVG anti-virus and ZoneAlarm firewall. Other products are available. I just downloaded AVG Basic; the full package costs $54.99. AVG Basic has anti virus and anti spyware function, but no firewall function. |
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I pull up the Command Prompt; it's another black box with white text that kinda looks like MSDOS and I type "fciv.exe." Nothing happens; it says "fciv.exe is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file."
You have to navigate to the correct folder/directory first. Your prompt probably appears as C:\Users\username>. You will to use the 'cd' command. Typing "cd" doesn't do anything either; I type "cd", hit enter and the same C:\Users\username> appears right below it. I really cannot buy any extra equipment or hardware for this. Right now, I can only afford to invest like $30 or $40 USD into this, and ideally, I would like this to be all in Bitcoin; buying any gear would wipe out any money for Bitcoin thereafter.
OK, if you want to get into Bitcoin now, can you afford to lose that $30-40? Why not start with a simple wallet and only $3-4 dollars, that way if you lose it no serious damage is done. As you gain in experience you will find things that seem horrendously complicated now become clearer. Yeah, it's just that others have suggested I get another, dedicated computer for this, and the printer he suggested is $200 USD. All I'm saying is that I can't afford to buy new hardware for this; not yet atleast. Do you have antivirus software installed? Do you have a two-way firewall installed? If not then consider your computer as insecure and don't use it for anything important or valuable. If you don't know then consider it insecure.
Good, free, easy to use software packages are AVG anti-virus and ZoneAlarm firewall. Other products are available. My trial Norton Antivirus expired a few weeks ago; I just removed it today and started using Windows Defender. I ran a full computer scan and it said my computers safe. I don't know if they have/had "two way firewall" functions. I'll look into those other services you suggested. |
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Well I've tried but find it all much to complicated and am afraid of making mistakes.
I'm disappointed but somewhat comforted that the trends forecaster Martin Armstrong, doesn't believe Bitcoin has a future. Doubtless we will all be going digital in a few years or less (and paying our taxes on it!). Until then farewell, and enjoy while you may.
The whole process of obtaining bitcoins and storing them securely is very difficult for the average non-techie person. There are going to have to be some killer apps that make purchasing, using and storing bitcoin a whole lot easier before this thing goes mainstream. That is for sure. Ditto; a senior member on here is tutoring me on how to encrypt Wallet files, and I have absolutely zero experience with high or even lower-medium end computing or programing. All I've ever done with a computer was type and browse the internet; now I'm having to type commands and run security-related processes before I can even START to safely buy and transfer Bitcoin. I'm fairly determined to get into this, but there really has to be some safe, secure services for Bitcoin that are easy to use for the man on the street. |
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The Piper paper wallet printer might be a good option for someone who is non-techie. It's a completely offline printer that will print paper Bitcoin and Litecoin wallets. It will even let you plug in a usb and backup the keys to that as well. The website is piper.pw.
I really cannot buy any extra equipment or hardware for this. Right now, I can only afford to invest like $30 or $40 USD into this, and ideally, I would like this to be all in Bitcoin; buying any gear would wipe out any money for Bitcoin thereafter. |
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So, a Windows user would go to http://gpg4win.org/ and download the full version. You can google the site for its web reputation. You can verify the integrity of the download using Microsoft's fciv utility found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/841290When you unzip fciv, drop fciv.exe into C:\Windows. I successfully got up to this stage; I downloaded fciv.exe and when I tried to click on it, the black box with white text that kinda looks like really old MSDOS pops up for a few milliseconds and the box closes automatically. The next part I can't figure out That way you can pull up Command Prompt (Accessories) and run fciv.exe from any location.
Windows 8 doesn't have Accessories; you have to click on Search on the right side of the screen type Command Prompt. I pull up the Command Prompt; it's another black box with white text that kinda looks like MSDOS and I type "fciv.exe." Nothing happens; it says "fciv.exe is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file." |
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Sorry in advance for the book. As I thought about it, it felt easier just to go through the motions of thinking about why this is important and how it works. OK, on PGP. Yes, it is complicated, but I doubt it is beyond your skill set. Simply a new process to learn. Before thinking about encryption, it would be good practice now to consider learning how to ensure that what you think you are downloading is what you are actually downloading. This is especially important when dealing with software that could potentially target your wallet(s). This is a taste of what it means to verify the integrity of and to authenticate certificates for files downloaded. In turn, that will necessitate creating a PGP keypair, and may prime you for working with PGP keys to encrypt your files. So, a Windows user would go to http://gpg4win.org/ and download the full version. You can google the site for its web reputation. You can verify the integrity of the download using Microsoft's fciv utility found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/841290When you unzip fciv, drop fciv.exe into C:\Windows. That way you can pull up Command Prompt (Accessories) and run fciv.exe from any location. So to verify the integrity of your gpg4win download, pull up Command Prompt, and enter "fciv [____.exe] -sha1" where [] = the exact file location of the gpg4win binary. This should produce a sha1 checksum that you can compare with the checksum found here: http://gpg4win.org/package-integrity.htmlIf your binary downloaded properly, these sums should match. That is about the extent of due diligence you can do prior to using encryption/decryption. Now that you have verified the integrity of the download, install gpg4win and run Kleopatra. You can now authenticate the download from gpg4win. You would create a new certificate, select PGP keypair, and input your desired user information and password. Once the certificate has been created, back it up and keep your information safe. You can now use this certificate to certify the earlier download. You do this by downloading (and subsequently verifying) the release signature of the download, found next to the file you downloaded, here: http://gpg4win.org/package-integrity.html Download the corresponding .sig file into the same folder as the original download. As stated, the signatures have been created with the following OpenPGP certificate: Intevation File Distribution Key (Key ID: EC70B1B8) -- if you go to that source, you can scroll down to "Intevation-Distribution-Key" and download it (it is an .asc file). Then you "import certificate" and select that file. Verify that the fingeprints match, then you can certify it with your own key. Now, you can go to File | Decrypt/Verify. Select the .sig file that you downloaded (you'll see that it corresponds to the .exe file in the same folder) and verify. You should now be able to validate the certificate -- giving you confidence that you have the original and unmodified file and not some malicious replacement. ......So now you know how to verify the integrity of your downloads and create a PGP certificate to authenticate those downloads. Now, encrypting files with PGP is very easy and only one step away. But before encrypting anything -- make sure that your keypair is backed up and your password is SAFE and will not be lost. (It would be tragic to encrypt the directory housing your wallet without realizing the importance your PGP password in decrypting it later on.) Also, when encrypting, remember to encrypt to your own certificate -- otherwise your private key is useless to decrypt it. Here is a straight-forward tutorial on signing and encrypting files in Kleopatra: http://www.gpg4win.org/doc/en/gpg4win-compendium_24.htmlAgain, I know it is a lot to take in. But if you are going to be holding an amount of money significant to you on your machine, another layer of encryption can provide great peace of mind. Currently downloading Gpg4win; just before I continue, what exactly is this going to do? I'm not sure I understand why I've got to do this. Because I already have passwords for my Electrum wallet, and the wallet names I was assigned seem pretty complex. Is this whole process just going to add another layer of passwords around the software, the file or both? You can set up cold storage on a USB drive, sure. With QT, for instance, just back up the wallet.dat file on the USB -- preferably, the wallet should be generated initially offline, the wallet should be encrypted before stored, and all files on the drive encrypted.
I actually cannot find a wallet.dat file; I did a full hard drive search. It's not on my USB drive either; all that appears on my USB is the Electrum program; and yet there appears to be Wallet ID's under the received tab. |
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A paper wallet maybe the best option for op Yes, but it is too complicated to generate secure paper wallet for average person That and I do not have a printer; all I have is my laptop, a 2.0 GB USB drive and a Windows smartphone. You can write the public and private keys down instead. Just go with blockchain.info for now and/or get an electrum wallet and encrypt it and back it up on the usb. http://electrum.org/I just installed Electrum on my USB drive. There's a tab that says "Receive" and there are 5 BTC Addresses (or what look like Bitcoin addresses) underneath. Are these my offline, USB addresses? |
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A paper wallet maybe the best option for op Yes, but it is too complicated to generate secure paper wallet for average person That and I do not have a printer; all I have is my laptop, a 2.0 GB USB drive and a Windows smartphone. |
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At this point, I would say that wallet security is definitely still beyond the average person. Hopefully, sooner than later, options will emerge that make securing your coins less technical. Check out this link for some information: http://bitcoin.org/en/secure-your-walletThe best way to secure your coins is to keep them offline. So, ideally you would have an offline machine or storage medium (flash drive, or paper, for instance) that cannot be reached through the internet. When I decided to get serious about security, I bought a cheap Ubuntu notebook to keep strictly offline. I verified the PGP signature of my wallet download and transferred the install to the notebook. Offline, it can still generate a wallet and address -- I use this address on my online machine to send coins to cold storage. If you keep coins on an online machine, make sure you encrypt your wallet with a strong password, set firewall to deny incoming connections, and ensure that your antivirus software is adequate/operational and fully updated. And don't keep your passwords saved on your machine. (All of this is still true with an offline machine) You may look into running Linux/Ubuntu as a LiveCD on your Windows machine (disable networking/unplug all cables upon mounting), so you can simulate an offline machine without affecting your Windows OS. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_to_set_up_a_secure_offline_savings_walletAlso, take a look into PGP/other encryption. I prefer to keep the directory that houses my wallets/backups encrypted as an extra layer of security. It's complicated, though, and may take some time to get the hang of using it. You can encrypt single files using terminal commands ( http://askubuntu.com/questions/98443/encrypting-files-and-folder-through-terminal) or look into something like TrueCrypt. Damn it. I made this sound even more complicated. The fact is, it may take some time and frustration to understand everything. I still feel lost, myself, much of the time. I have no idea what encryption actually is; if it's just assigning a password, I've already done that. I'm fairly confident in my password; long, mixed-case letters, numbers and symbols. If you're asking me to do some actual programming, that's beyond my skill set. I really don't want to risk screwing up this computer. I already have a blockchain.info wallet (albeit an empty one). I had asked on another thread if it's possible to set up a wallet on a 2.0 GB USB drive; didn't get any answers. Could I set up an "offline" Wallet on that? Could I try buying a few mBTC, put it on a USB Wallet and bounce it back and forth between the USB Wallet and my blockchain.info Wallet, just to get a feel for how BTC transactions work? Is that a good idea? |
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Hi there,
My suggestion would be to encrypt your wallet with Passphrase.
Is Passphrase a program or an app? Or are you asking me to assign a password to my wallet? I setup a blockchain.info account, and I was required to assign a password from the start. I think it's pretty strong, but I have no idea how secure that site is or if my computer is secure; that's why I'm afraid to get started. |
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I discovered Bitcoin earlier this week and this forum shortly after; I've wanted to dip my toes in it, but in all honesty, I've been afraid to buy even one mBTC because of all the stories of hacking and scams I've read on here.
I've been trying to learn about how to set up a safe, secure Wallet, but when I read about people doing things like running Unix to access Apache servers on the Tor Network and encryption and writing subroutines in Java, it's all alien to me; I have no idea how any of these things work.
I just have an ordinary, Windows 8 laptop; I have no idea what kind of security features it has or if it's secure; I don't know if I've ever been hacked or had a virus. I have no idea if it's safe to set up a wallet on my computer. What can I do? What can an average computer user do to set up a safe, secure Wallet and keep their Bitcoins as hack/scam-proof as possible?
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I'm very close to backing out of this whole thing too (atleast until rapid, user-friendly, trustworthy Bitcoin services come online).
I've been too afraid to buy a single mBTC because of all the stories of hacking and scams I've read on here.
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I know it's debatable, but I think bitcoin does have intrinsic value based on it's utility and privacy.
What utility? Sure I can buy a few goods and novelties online with it, but I can't pay for food, gas, rent, insurance or any of those sort of things with it unless I convert it back to USD. And what privacy? From what I've been reading on here, almost every exchange requires you provide photo ID, proof of residence, a bill of some sort or paystub, etc. Aside for the "big/important" things like insurance and rent, I've never had to provide any of those things when buying things online. What privacy? |
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I've been studying about Bitcoin for the past few days. I've been wanting to get my feet wet all week but just buying a few mBTC with $20 or $30 USD, but after reading about all these stories of complications, delayed transactions, hacking scams going on BTCe, Mtgox, Coinbase, I'm really afraid to try now.
One thing that strikes me as strange is the whole start of Bitcoin by the person/group Satoshi Nakamoto; so Bitcoin was programmed so that there can only be 21 Million total, only a few diehard computer geeks knew about it in the beginning, mined a disproportionately large bulk when it was unknown and worthless, and then Bitcoin went semi-mainstream. The only problem is, with a so many people attempting to mine a fixed number of Bitcoins, everyone gets a smaller share, and only those who can afford large, commercial-grade mining setups can accrue decent amounts.
Why didn't the creators of Bitcoin just give everyone in the world 10 free BTC at the very start? They were worthless in the beginning, so it would have cost nothing. Why couldn't they set the max number of total BTC to maybe 50 or 100 Billion and just send 10 free BTC to every email or IP address in the world and let people decide if they wanted to keep them, throw them away, give them to someone else, trade them for something and so forth?
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I've been trying to get into Bitcoin for the past few days; I attempted to setup mining apps and programs on my laptop, but they're really difficult to use and I've been told that it's now impossible to mine on a laptop as mining is pretty much dominated by huge, commercial-grade operations now. I've given up on attempting to mine now.
I setup a Wallet at blockchain.info, but I've been reading on here a lot of stories about people having difficulty or even outright scammed with online services (BTCe scamming people, people not being able to withdraw funds from mtgox, people getting their computers hacked and Bitcoin stolen, etc).
I'm really scared of online services now. I've been told I should get a dedicated offline computer to store Bitcoin, but in all honesty, I really not ready to delve too deeply into this yet. I just want to invest in a few mBTC at this stage (not a lot, just less than $100 USD worth) so buying a new computer to store less mBTC than the computer's worth is counter-intuitive.
I really don't know too much about computers or security; I've read here about people using "Tor" and "Apache" and "Encryption" and it's all alien to me.
I have a fairly new Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 1.8 GHz Intel Celeron Processor running Windows 8. That's all I know about it; I have no idea how to monitor my computer's online security. Can I store my Wallet and Bitcoin on a regular, old 2.0 GB USB drive? Maybe only plug it in when my computer's disconnected from the internet? Would that be a good idea?
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Bitcoin needs an exchange unregulated by the laws of government.
That would really piss them off and it would be beautiful.
BTC is about freedom and no government control(over the currency at least), exchanges are not. Using government currency to buy BTC then sell for government currency, not what BTC was designed for. The average citizen does not care whether or not their monetary supply is controlled by the government; the average person will at most only think about how easily they can move it, save it, spend it and what they can buy with it.
ATMs/Exchanges are junk... I want a BTC supermarket where I can buy my food/electronics with BTC, screw the governments money.
Also I want a part time job at said supermarket where I receive my paycheck in BTC.
Also How about some farmers/butchers who sell their produce to the supermarket for BTC?
The quote Nicholas Cage in Lord of War, "This is small f-ing potatoes." What about paying for your rent in Bitcoin? What about paying for your monthly insurance premium in Bitcoin? What about paying for large medical expenses in Bitcoin? What about saving for your child's college education and paying it in Bitcoin? |
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I'm still trying to understand this concept about "Blocks" and "Blockchains."
Are Blocks just digital records of transactions that need to be processed before they get approved and the Bitcoin changes hands? Is Mining lending your computer power to process these Blocks?
Pretty much, give or take a lot of technical detail. I see. Why is mining becoming more difficult and less profitable? Why are huge, commercial-like facilities needed for mining when it used to be possible to do it on a laptop? |
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