The wallet.dat holds the private keys for the addresses you have created in the bitcoin-qt application, that allow you to create the transactions of the addresses. Without those keys you can't send bitcoins.
Okay, but when I open the file in notepad its not exactly readable... is that because it's all crypto'd out?
Just use the send tab in the application and put in the amount, with the address you want to send it too, and it will be broadcasted to the nodes, then once it has confirmations it will then be spendable for that address. To get bitcoins just have some one send them to your bitcoin address it would start with a "1".
Alright, I see that in the "receive coins" tab in the client, under the "address" field. Is that correct?
Look at armory it can make this very easy for you.
Ahh... downloaded and installed. Awesome!
That would depend on the mining pool, but if your very new, mining is not an option for you at this time.
I have 6 gaming computers in my house, all with AMD 6900+ series in them... I can modify it down to two rigs with 3 cards each (I'm a hardware enthusiast and I love max settings/resolution lmao). Is there some kind of restriction on mining that's going on right now?
Thanks to both of you for your replies!