I think I was just robbed (edit... I wasn't robbed. Victim of my own ignorance)

[scintill]

Just to put this to bed, and to allay any fears of new to bitcoin people reading my terror filled lesson.  I have all of my Bitcoins.

Glad to hear it.  You might want to edit the title of the topic so that people know it's resolved.

[ErebusBat]

Can the OP change the post title?  We have enough stigma of bitcoin is full of thieves with confusion of posts like this.

[Loozik]

When you send BTC the remainder goes to a new address.

Newbie here. Let's assume I have 3 addresses and 10 bitcoins are in only one (two others are empty). Does it mean that when I send 1 BTC to a friend of mine, 9 bitcoins will be automatically sent to either of the remaining addresses of mine?

Thanks

Or to a new one you didn't even know existed in your wallet (there are many change addresses pre-computed in your wallet). Some have lost money by not understanding this concept and only having backups of the addresses they knew about. The way these change addresses were pre-computed was changed in bitcoinqt to make this less of a problem.

Geee, it will take a lot of time before I understand even basic peculiarities of Bitcoin-Qt. There are many guidelines like backing up wallets, etc, but without first understanding the background mechanics / logic behind these guidelines, a non-tech poor English speaking newbie like myself can potentially get into troubles.

Is there an easy-to-understand tutorial of all / some of these intricacies?

Thank you.

[charleshoskinson]

https://www.udemy.com/bitcoin-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-crypto/

[Loozik]

https://www.udemy.com/bitcoin-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-crypto/

Thank you.

This website either has problem with password management or does not allow browsers with cookies disabled (I added this website to a exception list or I am proving myself to be a non-techie - so many attempts of password reset and all failed.

BTW, if the situation described by the thread originator happens to me, how do I find the hidden address in my wallet and how do I find the private key assigned to this address (using Bitcoin-Qt)?

Thanks

[charleshoskinson]

Generally all the info is contained within the wallet.dat file. I really wouldn't recommend digging for the private key. Instead just backup your wallet and then encrypt the backup using AES crypt and a strong password. Store the encrypted backup on dropbox or some other service. You'll have the best of both worlds. Access and security

[Loozik]

Generally all the info is contained within the wallet.dat file.

The guy here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5324.msg79436#msg79436 says only private keys are stored in the wallet.dat file: ''The wallet only contains the private keys you use to spend your coins''.

If he is right, by opening wallet.dat file, I would find many (about 100) private keys (only keys). How would I know which key opens the specific address to which the remaining 9 BTCs were send? I do realize this question may seem and probably is stupid. Just let me know and I jump into ''Newbie'' forum.

Instead just backup your wallet and then encrypt the backup using AES crypt and a strong password.

By the ''wallet'' you mean wallet.dat file or something else / something additional?

[charleshoskinson]

Generally all the info is contained within the wallet.dat file.

The guy here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5324.msg79436#msg79436 says only private keys are stored in the wallet.dat file: ''The wallet only contains the private keys you use to spend your coins''.

If he is right, by opening wallet.dat file, I would find many (about 100) private keys (only keys). How would I know which key opens the specific address to which the remaining 9 BTCs were send? I do realize this question may seem and probably is stupid. Just let me know and I jump into ''Newbie'' forum.

Quote from: charleshoskinson on Today at 01:16:41 AM
Instead just backup your wallet and then encrypt the backup using AES crypt and a strong password.

By the ''wallet'' you mean wallet.dat file or something else / something additional?

I walk through the process of backing up and encrypting the your wallet in my course. If you are having trouble viewing it, then I'll be happy to email you the video. Just PM me. And yes I am referring to the wallet.dat file. It contains lots of information. You'll have to contact the vendor to get specifics about how the data is stored. I haven't looked at the source code. That said, it is my understanding that your private keys are stored in the wallet.dat. This is confirmed by blockchain's import service only requiring the wallet.dat file to import your wallet to their cloud.

[Raoul Duke]

Generally all the info is contained within the wallet.dat file.

The guy here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5324.msg79436#msg79436 says only private keys are stored in the wallet.dat file: ''The wallet only contains the private keys you use to spend your coins''.

If he is right, by opening wallet.dat file, I would find many (about 100) private keys (only keys). How would I know which key opens the specific address to which the remaining 9 BTCs were send? I do realize this question may seem and probably is stupid.

Code:

dumpprivkey <btcaddress>

[dhenson]

Title changed.  Again, thank you Bitcoin community for all of your assistance in this simple misunderstanding.  I remain a 100% believer in Bitcoin.  Long live Satoshi!

lls ftw.

[Loozik]

OK. This conversation overwhelmed my circuits 

I am going back to the Newbie forum to look for historical threads for non-techies.

Thanks for your tries to enlighten me.

[Loozik]

One last question, hoping you do not mind it. I just read that apart from a wallet and addresses in it there are also accounts in the wallet: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Accounts_explained

When a portion of bitcoins is spent from a specific address from a specific account within a wallet, the remaining amount is resent to an address within the same account or is resent to an address within a different account?

Thanks

[ErebusBat]

One last question, hoping you do not mind it. I just read that apart from a wallet and addresses in it there are also accounts in the wallet: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Accounts_explained

When a portion of bitcoins is spent from a specific address from a specific account within a wallet, the remaining amount is resent to an address within the same account or is resent to an address within a different account?

Thanks

Accounts are a logical unit within BircoinQt so you can group your transactions or easily see who paid.  If you don't know what they are then chances are that you don't need them. 

One thing I have not seen anyone here mention is ongoing backups.  You must continually backup the bitcoin qt wallet or it is possible you can lose coins.  The reason is because of change addresses, if the ui has to generate a new change address that wasn't in your previous backup then your previous backup is as good as gone.

Read up on it.

[Loozik]

I am putting together some short videos to answer these questions.  My production is not great and the sound is a little low (I am workin on that stuff).  I am trying to keep them as short as possible so people can get what they need quickly.  Here is the one called "Anatomy of a Bitcoin Wallet"

http://millybitcoin.com/anatomy-of-a-bitcoin-wallet/

Finally someone who produces videos aiming at explaining practicalities - this is what I needed

BTW, the videos can be longer. They are not boring. What is boring are 20 - 40 minute movies on how bitcoin will change the world and on the theory. They are all the same.