For Basic Miners only - also looking for feedback

[thinkweis]

I put a site together for brand new miners using windows that want to use a miner with a graphic interface. Easiest way to get started for a new miner. Currently sending people to slush's pool.

http://startbitcoin.com

Any feedback is appreciated.

-Think

[PandaMiner]

Pretty good write up.  I like how you warned about Ads that look like download buttons.

[thinkweis]

Thanks for the feedback panda. I don't think this will apply to advanced users but I try to make all of this as newbie friendly as possible.

[hunter]

I put a site together for brand new miners using windows that want to use a miner with a graphic interface. Easiest way to get started for a new miner. Currently sending people to slush's pool.

http://startbitcoin.com

Any feedback is appreciated.

-Think

Nice

First thing you need to do is get a “Bitcoin Wallet”. Because Bitcoin is an internet based currency, you need a place to keep your Bitcoins. Got to http://www.bitcoin.org and download the Bitcoin client for your Operating System. Install it and click “New” to get your wallet ID. It will be a long sequence of letters and numbers. One of most important things you can do is make sure you have a copy of this on a thumb drive and print a copy out and keep it in a safe location. The reason is that if you computer crashes and you do not have a copy of your wallet ID, you will lose all of your Bitcoins. They won’t go to someone else, they will disappear forever. It is like burning cash.

Took me 3 days to figure that one out.
I went straight to guiminer not realizing that I also needed bitcoin client.

[thinkweis]

Nice

First thing you need to do is get a “Bitcoin Wallet”. Because Bitcoin is an internet based currency, you need a place to keep your Bitcoins. Got to http://www.bitcoin.org and download the Bitcoin client for your Operating System. Install it and click “New” to get your wallet ID. It will be a long sequence of letters and numbers. One of most important things you can do is make sure you have a copy of this on a thumb drive and print a copy out and keep it in a safe location. The reason is that if you computer crashes and you do not have a copy of your wallet ID, you will lose all of your Bitcoins. They won’t go to someone else, they will disappear forever. It is like burning cash.

Took me 3 days to figure that one out.
I went straight to guiminer not realizing that I also needed bitcoin client.

I tried to make sure I covered every detail. Make sure that you get yourself a secured wallet too. I made another easy to follow tutorial on how to do that. Don't worry if you don't consider yourself an advanced user. It is very easy to follow. Try it out and let me know how it goes.

http://startbitcoin.com/how-to-create-a-secure-bitcoin-wallet/

As always I hope you use these tutorials to have a good bitcoin experience and if you feel that my help is worth a donation my wallet is 1HbdRpinMDQ2cgUWsKiMPDN2icC8rNpS1i

[drknark]

First thing you need to do is get a “Bitcoin Wallet”. Because Bitcoin is an internet based currency, you need a place to keep your Bitcoins. Got to http://www.bitcoin.org and download the Bitcoin client for your Operating System. Install it and click “New” to get your wallet ID. It will be a long sequence of letters and numbers. One of most important things you can do is make sure you have a copy of this on a thumb drive and print a copy out and keep it in a safe location. The reason is that if you computer crashes and you do not have a copy of your wallet ID, you will lose all of your Bitcoins. They won’t go to someone else, they will disappear forever. It is like burning cash.

I want to make a correction here. Having a copy of your wallet "ID" (what you are talking about is actually your address) is not enough. You need to backup this file: C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\wallet.dat. This file contains your private key as well as all your addresses. You cannot access any of your addresses (you can generate as many as you want) without the private key.

[thinkweis]

Great catch. I have updated the tutorial to reflect that.

[thinkweis]

Bump for the newbies!

[thinkweis]

Some great follow up questions have been asked in comments - Thanks everyone for all of your help.

[gigabytecoin]

I like it!!!

[thinkweis]

I like it!!!

Thanks! I'm hoping to add more tutorials to it in the very near future.

Is there anything that I should cover? Any reoccurring topics that I can dive into?