Novice getting started Did I do this right?

[Crockett]

I'm just starting and don't know if I know what I'm doing.

I followed these directions to get started:

1- download the bitcoin client, install and run, this gives you a wallet and receiving address
http://bitcoin.org/
Current version is 7.0

2- choose a pool and create a pool account (some pools works without accounts), and create (at least one) worker account
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Comparison_of_mining_pools
http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?board=41.0
[I use https://www.btcguild.com/ ]

3- download a miner program and install and run
http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=3878.0[/i][/b][/i]

Then I clicked the bitcoin-qt exe. icon to open the program and it's been running for 24 hours now. It said it may take some time, including up to one day to complete, depending on the speed of my computer -- but I don't think it's close to finishing.
I have a pretty good system:
Intel Core i5 750 overclocked to 3400Ghz
OS 7 Professional on a Samsung 840 EVO SSD
Gigabyte R9 280X Graphics card

Sorry but I don't know how to insert a picture of the bitcoin-qt program as it appears now. It started by saying it was over 178 weeks behind (I didn't record exactly the number of weeks). Anyway that was 24 hours ago. Now it says it's 65 weeks behind.

Is this OK and am I doing things correctly by waiting for this program to finish?

Thanks for any help,
Crockett

[Scyntech]

Yeah, the wallet takes a long time to update. 

[empoweoqwj]

Yeah, the wallet takes a long time to update. 

Yes the blockchain is 14Gb or something now so .... depends on your download speed

[Crockett]

Scyntech & empoweoqwj

Thanks for the quick replies.

Yes, my other computers seem to be really slow doing anything on the internet -- so this must be taking up a lot of my bandwidth.

After this program updates -- what do I do then?

Thanks,
Crockett

[Rias]

Scyntech & empoweoqwj

Thanks for the quick replies.

Yes, my other computers seem to be really slow doing anything on the internet -- so this must be taking up a lot of my bandwidth.

After this program updates -- what do I do then?

Thanks,
Crockett

Click on "Receive address" button (or something like this, can't say for sure - not at home) and obtain your bitcoin address. Then follow steps from your guide.

[anti-scam]

You didn't post this on the "Beginners & Help" subforum so you're already doing it wrong. You're also trying to mine Bitcoin with a conventional computer. This is not likely to even recover the costs of the electricity you're going to spend trying to mine. Your best bet is to mine an altcoin like Litecoin or Dogecoin and trade them for BTC (and do get rid of them as soon as possible).

[sgk]

Crockett,
Using even a fast computer for 'Bitcoin' mining is useless since this is the era of ASIC miners.
Your best bet is to mine any scrypt alt-coins like anti-scam suggested. You can get decent speeds with R9 280x. Mine scrypt coins (check coinwarz.com) and trade them for Bitcoins.

Your current Bitcoin wallet is also useless for you now. Stop syncing.

[Scyntech]

Crockett,
Using even a fast computer for 'Bitcoin' mining is useless since this is the era of ASIC miners.
Your best bet is to mine any scrypt alt-coins like anti-scam suggested. You can get decent speeds with R9 280x. Mine scrypt coins (check coinwarz.com) and trade them for Bitcoins.

Your current Bitcoin wallet is also useless for you now. Stop syncing.

I wouldn't say stop syncing. Get it up to date and occasionally load it back up to sync. I do that once a week.

As sgk and anti-scam said, Alt-coins is the way to go. I earn BitCoin fairly quickly by trading alt-coins and I'm currently only using one 7850. You do really have to keep an eye on the exchanges. Here is a short list of places I use.

www.cryptsy.com
https://coinex.pw/
https://www.coinmarket.io/
https://www.coins-e.com/
https://bter.com

[sgk]

I wouldn't say stop syncing. Get it up to date and occasionally load it back up to sync. I do that once a week.

I used to do that. But I would say if you don't want your Bitcoin wallet to just keep syncing and don't want to store several GB of synced data on your PC, just use Multibit wallet.

[empoweoqwj]

Crockett,
Using even a fast computer for 'Bitcoin' mining is useless since this is the era of ASIC miners.
Your best bet is to mine any scrypt alt-coins like anti-scam suggested. You can get decent speeds with R9 280x. Mine scrypt coins (check coinwarz.com) and trade them for Bitcoins.

Your current Bitcoin wallet is also useless for you now. Stop syncing.

I wouldn't say stop syncing. Get it up to date and occasionally load it back up to sync. I do that once a week.

As sgk and anti-scam said, Alt-coins is the way to go. I earn BitCoin fairly quickly by trading alt-coins and I'm currently only using one 7850. You do really have to keep an eye on the exchanges. Here is a short list of places I use.

www.cryptsy.com
https://coinex.pw/
https://www.coinmarket.io/
https://www.coins-e.com/
https://bter.com

If you aren't going to mine bitcoins, then personally I would stop syncing and just use a thin SPV client like electrum or armory, but each to their own.

[JoelKatz]

Is this OK and am I doing things correctly by waiting for this program to finish?

It would help a lot to know what you're attempting to accomplish.