Topic: My mind is unrest (Read 368 times)

Hardware wallet is best place for saving Bitcoin fund, but its not really necessary when you have option holding assets in free wallet like Trustwallet or any mobile phone wallet.

I have been several years with cryptocurrencies and still not use hardware wallet for saving bitcoin, most time hold and save bitcoin in exchange account.

I am a kind of confusing here because I know OS as an Operating System so I don't know what OS comes to do with storing of Bitcoin. It might be that it is way of storing it. Hardware is not cost to get but depending on the country you are residing. And if the country you are is not selling hardware and there is no where to get in a close by place then you have to ship it from out country which will cost extra money apart from the purchase money.

Another way I can also contribute to others who have advised you what to is that, since you don't have a backup system for the coins, I will advise you to write down the private key/ the seed phrase of the wallet for about three to four different places in your home and also do the same with the wallet password and install the wallet app or hide it with vaults so that it will be protected from third party.

A friend of mine just bought a Trezor Model One hardware wallet for just $70 and $15 shipping, less than 1/10 of that.

If we do not want to spend too much money on more advanced versions, we can buy the most basic version, they are all equally safe.

I have read about an OS where one can install it in a USB flash and it's a good way of storing Bitcoin if one can't afford a hardware wallet sooner, can you give me a name and also where to read the installation tutorial?

Why do I want to do this?

I can't afford a hardware wallet right away and I just got a job where we are always asked to drop our phones every morning, all workers only have access to their phones after we closed at work, and that's in the evening, so many hours away.

My phone has a fingerprint lock and others but those security men I don't trust them, there is also a company PC in the office at the checkpoint, I feel they might try something with my phone and as a hot wallet user I feel unsafe.

I think I wasn't clear enough, what I meant is you need to have one PC which never connect to the internet and one device which you used to download the wallet, so after you have download it, you send the file to your PC to create a new wallet, this make your PC is safe enough since it's never connect to the internet.

It is not that the PC should never connect to the internet because it needs internet connectivity to install the crypto wallet but rather when the USB drive is plugged into the computer it shouldn’t be connected to internet.

Just because the OP cannot afford a hardware wallet doesn't mean he or she has no PC at home.

Mate, I see and understand your worries but however I think it is no point getting worried about the situation. Since your phone is a sophisticated phone I believe they can not access it without you opening it for them or granting them access  to do what ever they want to do with it or in your phone. There should be no cause for alarm mate but if you are still worried about it then I would advise you to buy a smaller phone which does not cost you much since you do not access your phone till evening. You can buy the smaller one with no such details to access in it while you keep your android phone at home in a safe place where only you have access to till you return home every day. With this you can have rest of mind.

I wouldn't call $1k a "small amount" considering that hardware wallet prices are 1/10 to 1/20 of that, not to mention the rising bitcoin price where $1k worth of bitcoin today will be worth a lot more tomorrow. Phone wallets are not the best option for storage either.

I have read about an OS where one can install it in a USB flash and it's a good way of storing Bitcoin if one can't afford a hardware wallet sooner, can you give me a name and also where to read the installation tutorial?

I have read about an OS where one can install it in a USB flash and it's a good way of storing Bitcoin if one can't afford a hardware wallet sooner, can you give me a name and also where to read the installation tutorial?

Why do I want to do this?

I can't afford a hardware wallet right away and I just got a job where we are always asked to drop our phones every morning, all workers only have access to their phones after we closed at work, and that's in the evening, so many hours away.

My phone has a fingerprint lock and others but those security men I don't trust them, there is also a company PC in the office at the checkpoint, I feel they might try something with my phone and as a hot wallet user I feel unsafe.

The fact that I still run an old core 2duo CPU in my house makes me the living proof that some people still have old PCs with core 2 duo CPUs in their homes.

I also have another powerful PC with the latest Intel CPU in my house, but I use the old core 2 PC for testing networks for airdrops, while the higher end PC is used for video editing, content, and gaming.

Just because the OP cannot afford a hardware wallet doesn't mean he or she has no PC at home.

If I were OP I will uninstall the wallet from my smartphone for ease of mind, since I wrote down my recovery seed offline at home I don't have to worry when I uninstall the app clean from the phone.

I understand that one needs to be careful because there are so many tools in the world today, just because your smartphone has pin lock and fingerprint security doesn't mean there can't be a way around those.

I have read about an OS where one can install it in a USB flash and it's a good way of storing Bitcoin if one can't afford a hardware wallet sooner, can you give me a name and also where to read the installation tutorial?

Why do I want to do this?

I can't afford a hardware wallet right away and I just got a job where we are always asked to drop our phones every morning, all workers only have access to their phones after we closed at work, and that's in the evening, so many hours away.

My phone has a fingerprint lock and others but those security men I don't trust them, there is also a company PC in the office at the checkpoint, I feel they might try something with my phone and as a hot wallet user I feel unsafe.

Mate, I see and understand your worries but however I think it is no point getting worried about the situation. Since your phone is a sophisticated phone I believe they can not access it without you opening it for them or granting them access  to do what ever they want to do with it or in your phone. There should be no cause for alarm mate but if you are still worried about it then I would advise you to buy a smaller phone which does not cost you much since you do not access your phone till evening. You can buy the smaller one with no such details to access in it while you keep your android phone at home in a safe place where only you have access to till you return home every day. With this you can have rest of mind.

I have read about an OS where one can install it in a USB flash and it's a good way of storing Bitcoin if one can't afford a hardware wallet sooner, can you give me a name and also where to read the installation tutorial?

I can't afford a hardware wallet right away

If I'm not mistaken, if you want to create a safe cold storage using USB stick, you're need to have a computer or PC which never connected with internet to prevent from virus or malware. Since you're can't afford to buy a hardware wallet, how you can find a computer or PC which never connected with internet? a company PC is obviously not safe and the owner might installing something in order to track your phone.

There's a guide about this How to Install Tails OS on USB flash drive for Wallet Purpose

I have read about an OS where one can install it in a USB flash and it's a good way of storing Bitcoin if one can't afford a hardware wallet sooner, can you give me a name and also where to read the installation tutorial?

Why do I want to do this?

I can't afford a hardware wallet right away and I just got a job where we are always asked to drop our phones every morning, all workers only have access to their phones after we closed at work, and that's in the evening, so many hours away.

My phone has a fingerprint lock and others but those security men I don't trust them, there is also a company PC in the office at the checkpoint, I feel they might try something with my phone and as a hot wallet user I feel unsafe.

Don't worry about that, if you have fingerprint lock in your phone, it's very hard to unlock it

and no one is going to unlock all workers phones to steal.

I have read about an OS where one can install it in a USB flash and it's a good way of storing Bitcoin if one can't afford a hardware wallet sooner, can you give me a name and also where to read the installation tutorial?

Why do I want to do this?

I can't afford a hardware wallet right away and I just got a job where we are always asked to drop our phones every morning, all workers only have access to their phones after we closed at work, and that's in the evening, so many hours away.
My phone has a fingerprint lock and others but those security men I don't trust them, there is also a company PC in the office at the checkpoint, I feel they might try something with my phone and as a hot wallet user I feel unsafe.

I can't afford a hardware wallet right away and I just got a job where we are always asked to drop our phones every morning, all workers only have access to their phones after we closed at work, and that's in the evening, so many hours away.

If you don't have money to buy a hardware wallet I guess you must not have much money invested in Bitcoin, right?

My phone has a fingerprint lock and others but those security men I don't trust them, there is also a company PC in the office at the checkpoint, I feel they might try something with my phone and as a hot wallet user I feel unsafe.

STEP 1
(a) Remove the SIM card if your phone has one. You don’t want any cellular communications, only WiFi.

(b)Perform a factory reset. This is typically found under Settings/Backup & Reset. This procedure wipes all personal data from the device and returns it to a factory state. Obviously back up anything you need before hand.

(c)After resetting the device and connecting to your WiFi (make sure your WiFi is password protected), you will have to log in to a Google account during the setup process. Do not use an existing account. Instead, create a new account with a fake name. Save the details of the account for later. This new account is to be used for absolutely nothing but tasks related to interacting with this device. Also during setup, don’t back up your phone to Google’s servers, don’t select to stay up to date, and don’t add any billing information. When it asks you to secure your phone, choose PIN and make sure it’s at least 6 digits long; I use 10. Remember, this isn’t about convenience, it’s about security. When prompted, choose to not show notifications when the device is locked. Lastly, don’t enable any of the offered services like backups, location, bug reporting, etc.
Once the phone is done setting up your profile, turn off data communications. On most Android phones, swipe down twice from the top of your screen to bring down your quick menu. Click on the icon for your data or cellular connection and then disable mobile data.

(d)Go into Settings/Apps, swipe over to All, and uninstall or disable every app that isn’t explicitly needed for using the device for offline storage. If in doubt, leave enabled all of the apps with the green android avatar. Also leave enabled Google Play, Google Play Services, and Google Keyboard. Don’t worry, if you accidentally disable something you need, it can always be re-enabled; just make sure you’ve tested everything before you start moving the bulk of your coins to the device. It’s also a good idea to reboot your phone before moving on to the next step.

(e)Go to Settings/Security. Set it to automatically lock after sleep. Enable the “Power button instantly locks” option, disable “make passwords visible”, and disallow installation of unknown sources

(f) Finally, encrypt your phone. There should be an option on the Security page. It will warn you that encryption will take a long time but since there’s hardly anything installed or stored on the phone at this time, it will only take a few minutes. If the option to encrypt isn’t available, don’t use this device. If you can’t encrypt your device, your security is highly compromised and isn’t worth the risk and you’ll be better off using something else.

(a) Install a VPN client. A VPN (virtual private network) encrypts and routes all data coming and going to and from your device through a proxy server masking your IP address. If your VPN allows for it, set it up so that if the VPN loses connection, it will kill your network connection and prevent any unencrypted data from leaving your phone.

(b) Install a password manager like Last pass or any other one with good rating and review.

(c)Install wallets. There are a number of wallets available on the Android platform, all with different features. Do NOT use a hosted wallet app such as Coinbase. Using a hosted wallet completely defeats the purpose of using your device for offline storage. When choosing your wallet, always try to choose wallets that offer a 12 word recovery phrase.

My phone has a fingerprint lock and others but those security men I don't trust them, there is also a company PC in the office at the checkpoint, I feel they might try something with my phone and as a hot wallet user I feel unsafe.

If I'm not mistaken, if you want to create a safe cold storage using USB stick, you're need to have a computer or PC which never connected with internet to prevent from virus or malware. Since you're can't afford to buy a hardware wallet, how you can find a computer or PC which never connected with internet? a company PC is obviously not safe and the owner might installing something in order to track your phone.

There's a guide about this How to Install Tails OS on USB flash drive for Wallet Purpose

I have read about an OS where one can install it in a USB flash and it's a good way of storing Bitcoin if one can't afford a hardware wallet sooner, can you give me a name and also where to read the installation tutorial?

I have read about an OS where one can install it in a USB flash and it's a good way of storing Bitcoin if one can't afford a hardware wallet sooner, can you give me a name and also where to read the installation tutorial?

If you have a small amount in your mobile, let's say less than $1k, I wouldn't even worry about it.