This is meant for having a secure savings account without having to be an expert in computer security. It's safe and reliable. You protect your key more in an old school way in the "real world" as apposed to "digital space".
This app generates: Bitcoin address along with it's matching secret private key that you can use in the future to "unlock" the BTC. Until it's stored on a computer it's safe from online threats because it has never been online. It's like generating a new address but in an isolated environment. A "clean room" if you will. You then import the key when you want to spend it.
1. Get a Live Linux CD ISO image. Ubuntu is probably the easiest to use.
Can get at:
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download2. Download BOTG (Bitcoin-Off-The-Grid) at:
http://www.bitlotto.com/botg0.1.1.tar.gz MD5: da7b36c1fd22d44cc62dd76f9e1aa072
(It's just a script. Source code can be read if wanted - Eventually, some Bitcoin specific distributions may include it)
3. Copy botg0.1.1.tar.gz onto a USB stick
4. Burn ISO image and leave CD in computer tray, then unplug computer from Internet
5. Reboot computer
6. Once the Live CD is fully booted insert USB stick
7. A window will probably open showing what's on the USB stick. If it doesn't, somewhere on the menu bar should be an icon to open USB stick.
8. Double click botg0.1.1.tar.gz and it will open. Click extract. Extract to home folder. (It will probably have a house icon)
9. Go back to file browser and click the "Home" button.
10. Double click botg.sh and select "Run In Terminal" OR Open Terminal program and type: ./botg.sh
11. Write down private key to unlock Bitcoin address along with the matching Bitcoin address
12. Reboot
13. THAT'S IT!
The address you record at the end will be the address you send BTC to. Because it was run off of a Live CD, no traces of the keys will be on your computer. It can't spread the key anywhere because there is no Internet. Because it was a Live CD, no operating system viruses will be able to spy on you while you are making the key. Not even a hardware keylogger would work for you aren't ever typing the key out! When you reboot everything is cleared and *nothing is left on the computer*. There is nothing to backup. Nothing to encrypt or safely make sure it's somewhere on a computer. All you need to is to keep the piece of paper safe. Instead of viruses, your risk will be someone finding that paper or it getting destroyed. Just be sure to think about what would happen if your house burned down or you hide the paper in something that could get stolen!
To access your money, right now it takes a bit of work. You currently have to patch Bitcoin to import it. It's coming down the feature pipeline and will probably show up soon. The private keys are very similar to what BitBills, casascius's paper wallet, etc are doing.
So far, I've made over 500 keys and have successfully imported them into Bitcoin without any error.
-the only risk computer wise is some type of BIOS virus - these are EXTREMELY rare. -if you have a small fortune and the tiniest risk is unacceptable, you could buy a brand new, cheap computer - run program - then destroy computer so it never goes online again - BUT that's kind of extreme!! LOL.
