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Bitcoin 0.3.25 BETA
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Copyright (c) 2009-2011 Bitcoin Developers
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Distributed under the MIT/X11 software license, see the accompanying
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file license.txt or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
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This product includes software developed by the OpenSSL Project for use in
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the OpenSSL Toolkit (http://www.openssl.org/). This product includes
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cryptographic software written by Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com).
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Intro
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-----
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Bitcoin is a free open source peer-to-peer electronic cash system that is
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completely decentralized, without the need for a central server or trusted
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parties. Users hold the crypto keys to their own money and transact directly
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with each other, with the help of a P2P network to check for double-spending.
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Setup
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-----
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Unpack the files into a directory and run:
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bin/32/bitcoin (GUI, 32-bit)
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bin/32/bitcoind (headless, 32-bit)
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bin/64/bitcoin (GUI, 64-bit)
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bin/64/bitcoind (headless, 64-bit)
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Wallet Encryption
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-----------------
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Bitcoin supports native wallet encryption so that people who steal your
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wallet file don't automatically get access to all of your Bitcoins.
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In order to enable this feature, chose "Encrypt Wallet" from the
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Options menu. You will be prompted to enter a passphrase, which
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will be used as the key to encrypt your wallet and will be needed
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every time you wish to send Bitcoins. If you lose this passphrase,
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you will lose access to spend all of the bitcoins in your wallet,
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no one, not even the Bitcoin developers can recover your Bitcoins.
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This means you are responsible for your own security, store your
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passphrase in a secure location and do not forget it.
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Remember that the encryption built into bitcoin only encrypts the
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actual keys which are required to send your bitcoins, not the full
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wallet. This means that someone who steals your wallet file will
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be able to see all the addresses which belong to you, as well as the
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relevant transactions, you are only protected from someone spending
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your coins.
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It is recommended that you backup your wallet file before you
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encrypt your wallet. To do this, close the Bitcoin client and
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copy the wallet.dat file from ~/.bitcoin/ on Linux, /Users/(user
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name)/Application Support/Bitcoin/ on Mac OSX, and %APPDATA%/Bitcoin/
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on Windows (that is /Users/(user name)/AppData/Roaming/Bitcoin on
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Windows Vista and 7 and /Documents and Settings/(user name)/Application
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Data/Bitcoin on Windows XP). Once you have copied that file to a
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safe location, reopen the Bitcoin client and Encrypt your wallet.
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If everything goes fine, delete the backup and enjoy your encrypted
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wallet. Note that once you encrypt your wallet, you will never be
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able to go back to a version of the Bitcoin client older than 0.4.
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Keep in mind that you are always responsible for you own security.
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All it takes is a slightly more advanced wallet-stealing trojan which
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installs a keylogger to steal your wallet passphrase as you enter it
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in addition to your wallet file and you have lost all your Bitcoins.
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Wallet encryption cannot keep you safe if you do not practice
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good security, such as running up-to-date antivirus software, only
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entering your wallet passphrase in the Bitcoin client and using the
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same passphrase only as your wallet passphrase.
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See the documentation at the bitcoin wiki:
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https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page
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... for help and more information.
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