Extreme Newbie - any feedback appreciated!

[Hollywood Or Bust]

So, I was on Ebay and stumbled into this whole Bitcoin world.  I ended up bidding (and winning) a 3 day mining contract for a few bucks.  Not knowing anything about it, I decided to give it a whirl - this whole concept is quite intriguing!

nyway, seller sent me here to sign up for an account, I created a worker and gave him the worker name and it is off and running.

So here I am.  I am trying to figure out now my account is accruing a balance, what the heck do I do with it?  (hell, yes, I am THAT MUCH of a newbie!)  Anyway, I read some stuff about getting a wallet.  Can anyone refer a good one?  I've read different types of wallets and whatnot too.  I also assume my balance will sit and grow until I sync up a wallet with it?

Also, I see Bitcoins and Namecoins accruing as separate items.  What is the difference between the two?

Any info is greatly appreciated.

[tygraen]

Hi there,

The Bitcoin-Qt client is a good general purpose wallet, however it can take a long time for it to sync up with the blockchain (it has to download 10-12GB).  The Multibit wallet is another good alternative that skips the lengthy download.

Yes, your balance should accumulate until you transfer it out to your wallet.

Here are a couple of guides that explain a bit about what you can do with Bitcoins and wallets. Pay particular attention to the part about not losing your wallet.dat.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=321579.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=17240.0

Namecoins are similar in that they are another cryptocurrency, but they also functions as an alternative P2P DNS system.

Cheers.

[meade16]

Please report back as to how much you made vs the cost of the hire.

[AlanTorayme]

The 3-day contract u bought is good for earning digital currencies used on the internet. U ased for the difference between Bitcoin and namecoin- they have an entirely different value and mining difficulty.I recommend you to mine a relativly new crypto currency like Earthcoin or something.

New currencies are found here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=67.0

Happy new year