Online wallets are not safe as some thefts have happened.
Well, it really depends on the website coding and security, even keeping in your computer isn't safe if you don't know what your doing..
A local wallet will always be safer. If you have malicious software on your computer, an online wallet won't save you because the hacker can just keylog your password (which would be even easier than stealing your wallet.dat.)
The big reason though is that with an online wallet you're trusting a third-party with your private key and hoping they don't get hacked or simply decide to run off with your money. I know blockchain.info claims to not have access to your private key but even if that is true, all it takes is for them (or a hacker) to change a couple lines of code to send them back your password instead of decrypting it locally.
With a local wallet, you eliminate those risks because the only person who has access to your private key is you. If you have a large amount of funds, they should be on an encrypted drive in cold storage with multiple encrypted backups made. Period. I facepalm everytime I read about someone losing $10k+ worth of Bitcoins because their online wallet got hacked. If you only ever have a little spending money at any one time then sure keep it in an online wallet if it's more convienent for you but don't ever think it's secure.
Hey clean install it in your spare laptop that you don't use. Only fire it up when transacting, that way you are in semi-cold storage and that is the best way to have it decentralized and at your disposal.
Just make sure you scrub your hard drive before placing your new OS. and refrain from installing anything other than the wallet and security suite.
This is a good idea. If you don't have a spare computer, the next best thing is to run a virtual machine (or dual boot) an OS (Linux would probably be your best bet) that you do nothing on but Bitcoin. For even more security, run encryption on the VM's virtual drive so even if your main OS gets comprimised there's no way for the malware to access your wallet while the VM is shut off.
Even if you don't want to do all of that, (which may be overkill if you aren't holding large amounts) at the very least you should run Multibit. I trust Bitcoin-qt the most personally but Multibit has the advantage of not requiring the large blockchain download (and still has infinetely more security than an online wallet). You can have a Multibit wallet up and running in about the same amount of time it takes to register for an online wallet so there's really no reason not to use it.
