OK first post and I have a technical question

[NoobBitcoinUzr]

What does "out of sync" mean? I upgraded to Bitcoin-Qt 7.0 (a beta, which probably explains it) and I got that error no matter what I did. I reverted back to the last stable (not beta) release and it got rid of it.

Just curious.

Also, exactly why is Dropbox not a great candidate for online wallet file backups? And can someone suggest another free site that might be good for online wallet file backups?

[Gabi]

That you don't have the full blockchain. So, you have to let the client download it, get all the blocks you lack and ta-dah, done, you are syncronized. A block is found on average every 10 minutes so if you keep the client closed for some hours, when you start it, it will have to get all new blocks 

it got rid of it

epic facepalm
Nothing changed, only that the old client didn't tell you this (but it told you that it was downloading new blocks), but uh guess what? If you start the bitcoin client it must get all the new blocks to be syncronized, so nothing changed lol. The new version just tell you that "hey, please note that you are out of sync"

[tHash]

If your wallet is strongly encrypted, I don't see why you should not use Dropbox.   I have one of my wallets there, double encrypted and with a different file name.   Might be a good idea to have more than one backup too.   A paper wallet stored in a safety deposit box may be a better place for any wallets with large balances.

[Foxpup]

What Gabi said. The (out of sync) warning was introduced after a huge number of people complained that Bitcoin-Qt wasn't working properly, when really the problem was that they were trying to use it before it had finished synchronising with the network.

Please use the latest version of Bitcoin-Qt and leave it open until it has finished synchronising (which will take several hours or maybe even a day or two depending on your computer - it has to download and verify the entire transaction history; fortunately you only have to do this once, after that it only has to download new transactions to keep up to date). Don't try to do anything with it (except encrypt your wallet and back it up, in that order) until it has finished (however, you can shut it down and then restart it later if it's taking too long - it'll pick up where exactly it left off rather than starting from scratch, so you don't have to download it all at once if this is not practical for you).

[NoobBitcoinUzr]

Thank you, mostly cleared up. Re. my Dropbox question, I heard somewhere that if I store my encrypted wallet on Dropbox that even if your wallet file was encrypted, somehow because of the nature of Dropbox they will be able to easily break your encryption routine. Don't know why that would be.

Anyways, let's just say I don't ever completely synchronize with the network (e.g., lets say because I power down the comp. 8 hours per day), does that mean I can't properly use Bitcoin or I just lose some level of functionality?

Finally, I'm one of those MacOS losers (currently on a MacBook 10.6.. My plan is to eventually start storing and using Bitcoins on this computer, have a strongly encrypted online wallet backup and a strongly encrypted USB backup that I store in a safe.

Should I have Bitcoin-QT running on the MacBook that I use frequently (I'm online a lot) or should I invest some time and energy to have Bitcoin-Qt loaded on a bootable USB, for security reasons? As long as the laptop itself is secure (e.g., locked in a house and password protected, and running behind a firewalled router), that sounds like a reasonable setup, right? Would I need to go to a bootable USB for maximum security? Opinions?

What I'm trying to do is, obviously, have a Bitcoin "bank" running that's secure and within the confines of my current setup (e.g., I essentially just have one computer and a jailbroken iPod touch - and I don't want to use Blockchain for anything, BTW).

Thanks again.

[Gabi]

I heard somewhere that if I store my encrypted wallet on Dropbox that even if your wallet file was encrypted, somehow because of the nature of Dropbox they will be able to easily break your encryption routine

Nonsense. If you encrypt your wallet (either via the bitcoin client or by using Truecrypt) then it's encrypted. Dropbox can't decrypt it. 

[RodeoX]

You can still use bitcoin even if you are not synced. However you will not see confirmation until you are caught up with the blockchain. I keep a few coins on my wife's computer and use it sometimes. But I make no real effort to stay synced. I just turn it on once and a while when the computer is on but not being used.

As far as dropbox and encryption. Remember that encryption only buys you time, decrypting is always possible. Someone could get to your drop box account and download everything. Then systematically go through your files to figure out which is the wallet.dat file. Then begin in earnest to break your encryption. It may take weeks, but if this is a wallet you are not using you may not know till it's too late.

[Gabi]

It may take weeks

If you use a decent password it can take millions of years or more

[RodeoX]

It may take weeks

If you use a decent password it can take millions of years or more

In that case, I should have said "it may take hours".   

[NoobBitcoinUzr]

It may take weeks

If you use a decent password it can take millions of years or more

Right, thanks. Makes sense.

Anyways, so what about my other questions (thanks again).... what's the value of running Bitcoin on a bootable USB? Is that really necessary?

What would be great is to have an encrypted USB stick that contains all of the Bitcoin software, including the wallet file, and that for maximum security, I only can run Bitcoin when the USB drive is running on my laptop. Would that be only accomplished with a bootable USB?

How about if I (somehow) just had the wallet file stored on my USB drive and that Bitcoin could only run withe the USB drive mounted (is that even possible)? Hopefully my questions are making sense.