Thanks for the guide. So, the wallet.dat file doesn't have to be "connected" to the internet, ever, to deposit money into it?
No, it doesn't. A user can create a new wallet.dat file on an unconnecte machine (by installing and starting the client, then shutting the client back down safely) copy the receiving address that the client produces onto any medium, copying the wallet.dat file onto a cheap thumbdrive, put the thumbdrive into a safe, and send coins from his mybitcoin.com account to the receiving address into the indefinate future. This is pretty much what I do for my long term savings, as I have just such a setup. I have a special address in my mybitcoin.com addressbook called "savings" that I send my overage to, and I don't have to take my thumbdrive out of the safe to do it.
What about withdrawals?
This requires the wallet.dat file.
do u ever worry about consolidating all ur coins onto one address in the blockchain? what about a collision?
i know this has been discussed a zillion times but what if the gov't decides to brute force the top 10 btc address holders?