I'm sorry, but there were so many half truths and errors in this reply i just had to correct you:
You can't use a computer to mine anymore, you use a recent ASIC. The diff has been waaaaay to high for many years to allow mining profitably with a computer.
A recent ASIC is pretty easy to configure.
You don't need to register to the network (if you solo mine, you just collect broadcasted transactions in your mempool and receive new blocks... Based on the block header of the latest block you received and the unconfirmed transactions in your mempool, you can generate a new block header and try to solve your new block without registering your ASIC... Only when you solved a block, you need to broadcast it to the network), you don't HAVE to join a pool.
If you're not solo mining, you don't always have to register for a pool... There are pools that allow you to mine without registering (usually, you just use your withdraw address as a username and that's all)