Going to Computer Store to Fix Laptop... What to do with bitcoin in Electrum

[viking02]

my laptop has lot of issues where its going crazy.  basically mouse/keyboard seems to click all over the place.  i use laptop connected with an external monitor and external keyboard.  i rarely use laptop by itself and thus the laptop keyboard.  i notice the keyboard laptop doesnt even work many times.  because of this, i want to bring my laptop to a repair shop for them to look at it.


i have a lot of bitcoin in my electrum wallet.  i store my passwords in keepass but issue is many times after opening keepass... it has this popup that says create entry over and over again where i cannot even view my passwords etc. i did keep copy of it in a usb though and also written a bit but not all.  my question is ... is it safe to bring your laptop to a repair shop where you have bitcoins on it... or should i send the bitcoins to say blockchain for example and keep it all there in the meantime  can a repair shop install something in your laptop that has a bitcoin wallet in it and hack it


i do have my electrum password and also that long phrase seed as well.  i read that you can restore electrum with the word phrase seed.  so what should i do here  my laptop has to get looked at.  i mean even if i send the bitcoin to blockchain and keep no bitcoin on electrum, is that okay  the thing is i dont know if they might open up my laptop etc and if they do this, like what if something goes wrong with my laptop and it cant turn on etc if you know what i mean.   and for those people who have bitcoin wallets, i assume its rare for a computer repair shop to do any hacking of some sort on your computer etc....

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[pooya87]

when you give your computer to someone else they can open your Electrum wallet (regardless of having a password or not) and see your balance, bitcoin addresses, tags, contacts.

if you have no password your private keys and seed are at risk so it can be stolen

if you have a weak password it can be brute forced and they can steal your private keys, seed and your coins.

if your password is strong there is nothing they can do except seeing your addresses and balance as i said in the first line.

p.s. i don't have any information about "keepass" so i can't help you there. you may want to check it out yourself to see how secure that is in keeping your passwords!
and the safest thing is always moving the coins to a new cold storage and keep them there.

[viking02]

hi there.  yes i know with electrum you can view balance which is a pretty big thing.  yes i have a password there.  can you explain weak password?  most of my passwords are from keepass and it generates a very long random password like fadksjklfjadksfjakdfjsajfsd if you know what i mean. so those cannot be hacked?
 

someone in the other thread that i posted this question on mentioned they can install malware on it even if they cant view your password etc.  they said if they have access to your laptop, you should not even use that laptop anymore for bitcoins and use a completely new bitcoin wallet etc.  is that too extreme or not?

[pooya87]

hi there.  yes i know with electrum you can view balance which is a pretty big thing.  yes i have a password there.  can you explain weak password?  most of my passwords are from keepass and it generates a very long random password like fadksjklfjadksfjakdfjsajfsd if you know what i mean. so those cannot be hacked?

read this topic https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1571224.0;all there are some good arguments about passwords and their strength but in general a strong password is long (more than 8-10), from random letters, upper and lower case and also combined with numbers and symbols. so it becomes impossible to brute force them.
as i said i don't have information about keepass but if it is generating that kind of password for you and it is indeed random, then it is safe.

someone in the other thread that i posted this question on mentioned they can install malware on it even if they cant view your password etc.  they said if they have access to your laptop, you should not even use that laptop anymore for bitcoins and use a completely new bitcoin wallet etc.  is that too extreme or not?

yeah i saw that other topic, try not to ask one question in two places (it is spamming)
and yes there is the risk that they can copy your encrypted wallet.dat add a malware like a keylogger on your computer and steal your password then use it to open your wallet and empty it out.

my suggestion:
- back up your wallet and seed.
- remove it from your laptop completely
- make a cold storage with a live linux (a new wallet which you can use Electrum)
- move all your coins there right now and then send them your laptop to fix.
- keep the coins on that cold storage and only make a watch only wallet on the laptop
- also when getting the laptop back, format it completely (all Hard Drives) and install a new and fresh OS

[smho_16]

Make sure your seed is safe in some protected place, like in a document with password and put such document in a USB which you know its safe. Once you do this, completely uninstall electrum from your PC. It can easily be done by going to control panel and uninstalling it from there as I am assuming you are using windows if your mouse gonne crazy clicking all over the place. Then even if the repair shop sees your password of electrum in keepass there is nothing they can do as they don't have the program to open and view the seed.

Bottom line is, as long as you have the seed secured and have uninstalled electrum there is no risk for you so bring the laptop to the repair shop.
Once you get it back clean, install electrum and click Restore Wallet, enter the seed and you will have the same wallet you had before sending the laptop to the repair shop.

[viking02]

hey thanks for that informaton.  Well the thing is im pretty sure my problem is the laptop keyboard.  I dont have issue using an external keyboard though.  Thus would you say it would be fine to just bring my laptop as is to the place and then see if they could just diagnose the problem on the spot?  Such that they could look at it and say well your keyboard is damaged and thats all etc.  Then i dont have to go through this entire process etc.


And if anything would be done to it where it doesn't risk having the computer opened, then i could just tell them i will be back later on because i didn't back my computer up ? 

[viking02]

when you say make sure the seed is safe in protected place, do u mean in a document online?  or do you mean writing it down on a piece of paper.  where do most ppl keep their electrum phrase seed?  If you write it down, dont you have to keep it in a very safe place etc?  Like say a safe deposit box in a bank?



also i want to be sure about another thing though im close to 100 percent.  so you are telling me if i have that phrase seed from electrum then once you restore it to say a new computer... you have access to the bitcoin ONLY if there is no password or you know the password right?  thus if someone has my phrase seed... but dont know my password, they cant do anything with it assuming the password is very complicated?

[Red-Apple]

when you say make sure the seed is safe in protected place, do u mean in a document online?  or do you mean writing it down on a piece of paper.  where do most ppl keep their electrum phrase seed?  If you write it down, dont you have to keep it in a very safe place etc?  Like say a safe deposit box in a bank?

it depends on how safe you think your house is
you can write it down on a piece of paper and put it in your drawer or among your documents.

someone suggested labeling these sensitive data "urine sample test results" and put it among your medical documents which may sound funny but works good.

also i want to be sure about another thing though im close to 100 percent.  so you are telling me if i have that phrase seed from electrum then once you restore it to say a new computer... you have access to the bitcoin ONLY if there is no password or you know the password right?  thus if someone has my phrase seed... but dont know my password, they cant do anything with it assuming the password is very complicated?

that is wrong.
seed is your private keys. because Electrum is generating your private keys with this seed not with your password. so if anybody has the seed, they have the private keys and can spend the coins.

the password is only to protect your seed from being seen by anybody who opens your wallet by encrypting everything
if they don't have the password and your wallet file they can't do anything if the pass is string.

[Starlightbreaker]

Do you have Linux?

get xinput.

xinput list
Find the keyboard device number.

xinput set-int-prop 12 "Device Enabled" 8 0

That disables the internal keyboard lol                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

[ivanst776]

If you get the bitcoin of your electrum wallet then you should immediately do it because maybe the person in the computer shop can see that you have bitcon and can do something that will steal the bitcoins.
So send the money to another wallet in another pc/laptop or use any of the online web wallets so you can transfer later the bitcoins.

[swogerino]

I am confused here when you are saying bitcoin to your electrum wallet.
I thought that electrum can only be stored in these sort of wallets.

[achow101]

I am confused here when you are saying bitcoin to your electrum wallet.
I thought that electrum can only be stored in these sort of wallets.

Electrum is not a coin. It is the name of a bitcoin wallet. See https://electrum.org

You're probably thinking of Ethereum.


OP. I suggest that you install Electrum onto another computer and restore your wallet on that computer. Then make a new Electrum wallet and send all of your Bitcoin to the new Electrum wallet. This way if anyone were to try to hack your wallet, they would not be able to get any of your Bitcoin.

You can also remove the hard drive and open it up in another computer and then remove the wallet files.

[swogerino]

I am confused here when you are saying bitcoin to your electrum wallet.
I thought that electrum can only be stored in these sort of wallets.

Electrum is not a coin. It is the name of a bitcoin wallet. See https://electrum.org

You're probably thinking of Ethereum.

Yeah I think I need a stronger cup of coffee in the morning when I start to read messages on the forum from now on. 
Blurry eyes made me see the t h e all strange. LOL!