Newbie DO'S and DONT'S?

[lynn_402]

Treat BTC like money, but just assume that there are no government or institutional agencies to protect or guard you.  Once you send bitcoin, it's gone unless the person is willing to send it back.  So if you wouldn't send a stranger on the web $5 of money, don't send them bitcoin.

If you use online wallets, you're assuming the person holding the coins won't steal them (cough tradefortress cough).

And if you want to use an online wallet, the best bet would be Blockchain.info, since your private key is not stored on their server, so you don't have to trust them as much.

However, the majority of your coins should be kept in a desktop or, even better, offline wallet.

[chaosPT]

Do Buy Bitcoins ! Dont Sell Bitcoin !

 

[odolvlobo]

Do Buy Bitcoins ! Dont Sell Bitcoin Do use Bitcoin ! Do buy more Bitcoins !

 

FTFY

Bitcoins are worthless if nobody uses them.

[lynn_402]

Do Buy Bitcoins ! Dont Sell Bitcoin Do use Bitcoin ! Do buy more Bitcoins !

 

FTFY

Bitcoins are worthless is nobody uses them.

I agree, but buying Bitcoins as a commodity and an hedge against inflation is a perfectly legitimate way to use it.
Espicially now, considering that Bitcoin is still quite inflatory; the holders are helping to keep the miners from exercing too much downward pressure to the price.

[Newbiemon]

Another question guys. hmmm
if an account gets banned, hopefully not mine  , could it be unbanned? just curious.

[fatguyyyyy]

Most overlooked thing that everyone does, is not doing daily back ups or weekly ones depending if you do more then 13 transactions per week.

And when they do upload the walle.dat file they wonder where the btc went.

[Farmer17]

Another question guys. hmmm
if an account gets banned, hopefully not mine  , could it be unbanned? just curious.

There are two types of ban, temp-ban (usually for 7 days or 14 days, as a warning) and perm-ban.
Also, you will be given an email address for you to appeal for the ban.

[Farmer17]

Most overlooked thing that everyone does, is not doing daily back ups or weekly ones depending if you do more then 13 transactions per week.

It depends on which wallet client you use.
For example, if you use a deterministic wallet (such as Electrum and Armory), you just need to make one backup and it is enough for that wallet, no matter how many tx you make and how many address you create.

[enhu]

online wallet from blockchain seem to be secure though.

[SirChiko]

online wallet from blockchain seem to be secure though.

Did any of the hacket wallets ever seem unsecure? We only found out they weren't secure enought when coins were gone already.
Always.

[enhu]

I only use blockchain for now. I'm not that techie so how can i make mine secure?

[Salmon1989]

I only use blockchain for now. I'm not that techie so how can i make mine secure?

Enable 2FA, use a long password never used before on other sites, don't download any suspicious programs and email attachments, etc.

[ALToids]

I only use blockchain for now. I'm not that techie so how can i make mine secure?

Enable 2FA, use a long password never used before on other sites, download download any suspicious programs and email attachments, etc.

I think what salmon meant was don't download.  Basically try to keep your wallet machine separate from your surfing machine.  Even better if you can keep the wallet offline since only physical intrusion could take the coins then.

[Jamie_Boulder]

Some of these are repeats... but they deserve being repeated!

• Do encrypt (passphrase protect) your wallet. Don't use a simple passphrase. Don't use a passphrase you use elsewhere. Encryption helps, but understand that it doesn't prevent all types of theft.
• Do backup your wallet. Different wallet software work in different ways: some wallets you only need to backup once, others you need to backup after every new receiving address is created, and others are somewhere in-between. Understand how this works for the wallet software you've chosen, and be vigilant with your backups!
• Don't start off owning more BTC than you can afford to lose/have stolen. If you find yourself getting close to your personal limit, search for "cold storage" and find out how to use it. Don't put this off until it's too late.
• Do choose one of the wallet options from the official choose-your-wallet page here: https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet. Not all online wallets are bad, however Do heed the warnings on this page regarding some of the less-safe online wallets. Choosing an online wallet does not exempt you from backing up your wallet.
• Don't download programs from the Internet. This rule is difficult to follow 100%; just be aware that each new program you download and run could be the one that steals your BTC.

Regarding that last rule, here are some guidelines that can help you decide how (un)safe a download is. Note that these are not hard-and-fast rules!

• Do research a program before downloading it. Are there a lot of websites discussing it if you search for it? Does it have a Wikipedia page that wasn't created yesterday? If either answer is No, Do be more suspicious of it.
• Software that is open source, especially if the answers above were No, is generally more trustworthy, but Don't assume that something is safe simply because it's authors claim it's open source!
• Software that is written in a popular scripting language such as Python, Ruby, Perl, JavaScript, etc. is generally more trustworthy, but Don't assume that something is safe simply because it's a script unless you can read and fully understand the entire script! Never download and run something claiming to be a script if it's actually an EXE file.
• Do look at the number of pages in a thread before downloading any software referenced on the first post of the thread. More pages means a smaller chance of the software being malware (but there's always still a chance it could be malware!). Do avoid software with only a few pages worth of posts - let someone else be the guinea pig!
• Do look at the Activity count and the Date Registered of users when trying to decide if they're trustworthy, and be more suspicious of Newbies, but Don't automatically assume that a Hero Member is 100% trustworthy.
• Do err on the side of caution/paranoia. It only takes one piece of malware to steal all of your BTC even if you've encrypted your wallet and even if you're using two-factor authentication.
• If you've decided to risk downloading something, Do take the time to find the single official download link or website.

Sorry if I sound scary... most people around here are the honest type, but there absolutely are scammers around here too. Use common sense, and have fun!

This sums it up so well lol, good job Btchris.

[lynn_402]

I only use blockchain for now. I'm not that techie so how can i make mine secure?

Enable 2FA, use a long password never used before on other sites, download download any suspicious programs and email attachments, etc.

+1
Enable 2FA not only on your Blockchain account but also on your e-mail address. Especially if you've kept your wallet back-up on it (the e-mail blockchain sends when you register.)

Both gmail and hotmail make that easy, and you can configure it so you won't have to use 2FA on your main computers, so you might not even notice it's there.

[Salmon1989]

I only use blockchain for now. I'm not that techie so how can i make mine secure?

Enable 2FA, use a long password never used before on other sites, download download any suspicious programs and email attachments, etc.

I think what salmon meant was don't download.  Basically try to keep your wallet machine separate from your surfing machine.  Even better if you can keep the wallet offline since only physical intrusion could take the coins then.

Yup, you are right. Thanks for pointing that out. I have just edited my post.

[FeelTheBeat]

Use virtual machine for new and suspicious coins. So far I didn't have any problems 

[ALToids]

Use virtual machine for new and suspicious coins. So far I didn't have any problems 

While a good idea, I think anybody who can sandbox questionable material already knows to do that

In newbie terms, if you're going to try out weird coins and programs, do it on a separate machine that won't risk your main computer and offline wallet.

[Mirin]

Don't trust anyone.

This is the most important one.

[lynn_402]

I only use blockchain for now. I'm not that techie so how can i make mine secure?

stop using blockchain, download bitcoin core and transfer the bitcoins to your new address

there are numerous ways to protect your OWN wallet, once you have a wallet on blockchain it's not actually your wallet

Actually, blockchain is quite better than all the other online wallet. It does not hold the private key to your wallet, so it is truly yours. And there are ways to make a back-up which you can then import to a desktop wallet in case blockchain.info crashes for some reason.