i was able to find a file in folder src called wallet! i managed to drag and copy it into note book- its just a prog and not in a format i would recognise! i downloaded a block chain nothing yet to indicate it is a zipped file and it is in downloads. but i cannot find anywhere where it says blk001 & block index all i can get are,daemon,locale,src,bitcoin,licence&readme? none seem to contain blk numbers-so i come to a stop. i am using windows xp so do not have c:/users but c:/docs/admin/mydocs/downloads/bitcoin ets?
I would suggest you use care when directly accessing the data directory, the information here sounds like you don't understand compressed (zip) files, and are also looking at the wrong stuff.
Change your Bitcoin options as I posted above, this is to ensure that you don't mistakenly leave Bitcoin running in the system tray when you think you closed it, and to ensure you have not misconfigured connections. Bitcoin must be closed when accessing it's data file directory. Close and restart Bitcoin after updating these options, and see if this allows Bitcoin to connect up to the connection limit and if blocks start updating. Then as I posted above, disable your OS's firewall for testing; you may have it misconfigured, so that p2p connections show in Bitcoin, but the inbound data cannot make its way through.
If you must take the shortcut of manually downloading and installing a copy of the blockchain, use the link I posted above, back to
my original post, where:
1. I give you a link to download and install 7-zip. You will need to launch the 7-zip File Manager, and under menu->tools->options, select the checkboxes to associate 7-zip with .001 and .7z. You can also select .zip and .rar if you wish for this freeware utility to replace non-free WinRAR & WinZip too. Then the first file in the archive set will open with 7zip and the contents can be extracted.
2. I give you a link to the Bitcoin data directory that is independent of which version of Windows you use:
%APPDATA%\Bitcoin. Opening Windows Explorer and putting this in the location bar will take you there.
3. While you have Windows Explorer open, you should enable showing file extensions so you aren't likely to make mistakes like you did copying files from the Bitcoin src directory. In the Windows Explorer you just launched, click "Tools" in the menu, and choose "Folder Options". Go to the "View" tab, and in Advanced settings, uncheck the box for "Hide extension for known file types" and press OK. This will allow you to see the full file name.
3. I advise you to back up the wallet, with a link to instructions to do this. In a nutshell, copy (do not accidentally
move) the wallet.dat file (it may appear as just "wallet" if you have file extensions hidden) to a backup location such as a USB flash drive for safekeeping. The easiest way is to right-click on the file, and in the context menu, select
send to -> USB drive (whatever your drive is called).
If the meaning of these instructions are still elusive, you should call a buddy over that knows more about computers. You'll probably need the help if you are going to set up Tor also...