Okay! So change addresses are okay too? It's normal right?
Yes 
Topic: Help (Read 337 times)
Okay. Is it normal for my wallet to have multiple BTC addresses? A friend recommended electrum.
Yes. In fact having multiple addresses is recommended. It is better for your privacy and security to use multiple addresses and to not reuse addresses. Ah okay. I understand now. So say I have my private key in a safe place, I lost my computer or something, I can use that private key to retrieve my bitcoins?
Yes, but you still need wallet software. You will need a computer and have a wallet software on it. Then you have to import your private keys into that wallet software to make your transactions. Note that you should not be reusing addresses and their respective private keys, i.e. you should generate a new private key and move your coins there after every time you spend any of your coins. 
Ah okay. I understand now. So say I have my private key in a safe place, I lost my computer or something, I can use that private key to retrieve my bitcoins?
Yep. Just import that private key into a wallet and from there you can spend them. It's just that easy!
Make sure you have multiple backups in multiple locations though. If your house is blown away by a storm you don't want to be left with nothing.
You should be using a wallet software. Your wallet software should know your private key, if it does not, you import it into the wallet so that it does know what it is. Then that piece of software handles your private keys and handles the creation of transactions for you.
You should never be handling private keys by yourself or by hand. That is highly not recommended.
You should never be handling private keys by yourself or by hand. That is highly not recommended.
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