Basic Crypto Guide

1. Before you can use any cryptocurrency, you need to pick a wallet to use.

What type of wallet you want depends on what you want to use it for. If you intend on mining, stop and reconsider because you probably can’t make any money. But if you want to anyways, you need a full wallet. Otherwise, a light wallet is probably all you need.

Turns out this site is better at explaining this than me.

But for other cyrptocurrencies, check out these sites:

Litecoin

Dogecoin

2. Install the wallet and then back it up.

Obviously you need to install the wallet in order to use it.

Once your wallet is installed, the first thing you need to do is backup your wallet. I can’t stress this enough. You NEED to backup your wallet. I have not neglected to backup my wallet before, and I have lost coins. Don’t be like me. Backup your wallet first thing.

There are a few ways to do this. Personally, I use google drive. But you don't want your wallets just sitting in google drive vulnerable to theft. My wallets are encrypted using 7-zip. 7-zip is like Winrar but better and free. When you install a wallet, it will place a .dat or .wallet file on your hard drive. The file extension will be in your roaming folder. For example, the file path for a dogecoin wallet might be something like this: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Dogecoin . The roaming folder is often hidden, so you might need to turn on "show hidden folders" under your system setting for your computer. Grab the .dat or .wallet files you want to back up and put them in 7-zip file and set a password. Personally, I would also save this password using a system like keepass. Lastly, upload your 7-zip to google drive or dropbox.

3. Test the wallet

Now let's test your wallet. Here is how you can try it. You can use a faucet to get small amount of cryptocurrency for free.

View 3 more here

Getting a wallet!

Perhaps I have put the cart in front of the horse. Or maybe more accurately in this case I have put the glass over the faucet. But before you can use a faucet, you need to have a wallet!.

Not that kind of wallet silly! I mean a cryptocurrency wallet. Well how do you get one? It is easy! But before you dive in, you may want to consider a few things. First, there are different types of wallets for different purposes. The least space consuming is a light wallet, like these (http://multidoge.org/ , https://multibit.org/ ). This wallet simply skims the blockchain, rather that downloading the whole thing. As a result, it is faster to download and updates more quickly. I recommend this wallet for most users. It does have some drawbacks. For instance, if you are going to mine, you can not use this wallet. It will not be able to keep up with the number of transactions. Instead you should use a QT wallet. 

Such Wallet

A QT wallet downloads the whole block chain (http://dogecoin.com/ ,https://litecoin.org/ ). Many smaller coins only have QT wallets. This wallet is great for recieving tons of transactions. However, it is also growing all the time. As more transactions are processed, the blockchain grows. Each growth needs to be downloaded onto your local wallet. So, the wallet will take up more space. It also takes longer for it to sync to the network ( in other words, to download all the blocks since it was last updated).

The Bitcoin disaster!

Its common knowledge, you should back up your files. But, like many of the things we know we should do, but don’t ( flossing? lol pass) we often put it off. Well, Bitcoin wallets also should be backed up, and some wallets come with a digital backup included. Mine did not come with such a back up, and when I mentioned this to Jake he told me I should get a different wallet. I chuckled, I don't think anything will happen to me, not my wallet. Oh boy, was I wrong!

…

So a few months ago I downloaded the windows 8.1 preview. I hate windows eight, with a burning passion. The windows 8.1 update was supposed to make windows 8 less like windows 8, and it kind of worked. But the preview expired and once it did my computer needed a huge overhaul. This destroyed all the applications on my computer including… yep, you guessed it

my bitcoin wallet.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAH I thought. In a frenzied state of panic, I turned to the microsoft forums in seek of counsel, (lol what a joke) which didn’t help. What I did end up doing was using Recuva, a software recovery program, to get my wallet back. As I dove into the depths of my computer, I hoped that windows hadn’t yet overwritten the data I required. For 60 long minutes, the program searched away, only to return with partially good news. I had to wallets, one with no money, and the other with all  the money. One was partially corrupted, and the other unscathed. I quickly restored the untouched wallet then put it in my new bitcoin wallet program. It then connected to the bitcoin network. More waiting… It then read my balance: 0 BTC. Crap! I thought. So I attempted to load the other corrupted wallet to no avail. Sweat built on my face as I realized my bitcoins may be lost in the void of cyberspace. Forever lost because I neglected to save my private keys somewhere safe. My hatred burned for Microsoft and the accused Windows 8! But then, a glimmer of hope… there was another file in my bitcoin wallet’s folder that I didn’t recognize. How strange I thought. I then attempted to run it with my wallet….

Success!

It Worked! I got my coins back all .0002077 of them ( or about 17 cents). And then we all lived happily ever after.

Note: there may have been some dramatization in the production of this blog.