When I set my first BTC wallet in 2011 I was basically illiterate in computer things. The wallet software told me to create a very hard password, which I did, I thought of a very long password, however memorable -- and I remember it to this day.<p>I thought my bitcoins were safe because I had remembered that long password (I have probably written it on paper somewhere also), just to discover, 2 years later, that it was worthless without the wallet file that hold my private key, which was washed down the toiled after a Windows breakdown followed by a full computer format (the default solution to all things Windows).<p>Why didn't the wallet software let me know I had to take care of that single file remains a mistery to me. Why did it put so much focus on the hardness of that password, that would only protect my wallet from my family and my dogs, is beyond my imagination.<p>---<p>Ok, in fact I imagine the password was used to somehow encrypt my secret key so viruses of all kinds wouldn't be able to read it. I, despite being illiterate, understood more of computer things than anybody nearby and had at that time the only Windows computer without a virus in the whole town, probably, so maybe the software should have been clearer to me.<p>I would prefer to memorize or store my secret key in paper, thank you, than to keep a vulnerable file on my computer, or to memorize a worthless password.