Another way to secure your wallet

[BitcoinLocator]

Another idea for securing your wallet is to use a passphrase based wallet.  This works by creating a long phrase with letters numbers and symbols.  Something that is hard for anyone to guess and long, but easy for you to remember.

You can then use the process outlined here to convert that passphrase into a private key at will.

https://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=28877.msg365477#msg365477

A key file that you've backed up offline as a savings account is still only as secure as the passphrase that you use to protect the private key, and you must have that file to recover your wallet, so a passphrase based private key can be just as safe, and available to you forever anywhere in the world no backups required.

Well almost as safe, the one problem with passphrase based private keys is that anyone can attempt an attack against the entire keyspace, whereas they would need your backup file to attack an encrypted backup.  However with a long enough passphrase you can avoid this problem.

This can be a useful tool for backing up bitcoins into your brain!

More on passphrases here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passphrase

[Alex Beckenham]

Just keep in mind that inputs to online sha calculators may be logged.

http://www.xorbin.com/tools/sha256-hash-calculator

It's conceivable that one day a xorbin staff member could discover bitcoin, and this thread.

To be more secure, use an offline sha calculator on a disconnected computer.

Edit: Likewise with converting your hex private key to base58. If you use blockexplorer or any other online service for this task, you run the risk of your private key being logged.