For an explanation of how Bitcoin works in simple terms, read [The In-Depth Guide to Bitcoin That Won’t Leave You Frustrated](https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/ultimate-guide-bitcoin/).
<p>To make it harder to relate your different transactions, you should use a different receiving address for each transaction. <span class="application">Electrum</span> automatically generates new addresses for you to use.</p>
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To start<p><span class="application">Electrum</span>choose <span class="menuchoice"> uses <em>mBTC</em> as the default base unit. 1 mBTC = 0.001 BTC. To change the base unit, choose <span class="guimenu">Applications</span> ▸choice"> <span class="guisubmenu">InternetTools</span> ▸ <span class="guimenuitem">Electrum Bitcoin WalletPreferences</span> </span>.</p>
<p><span class="application">Electrum</span> uses <em>mBTC</em> as the default base unit. 1 mBTC = 0.001 BTC. To change the base unit, choose <span class="menuchoice"> <span class="guimenu">Tools</span> ▸ <span class="guimenuitem">Preferences</span></span>.</p>
<p>Do not blindly trust the bitcoin balance that <span class="application">Electrum</span> displays as <em>unconfirmed</em>. Wait for transactions to be confirmed.</p>
Your wallet can be recovered entirely from its <em>seed</em>: the chain of words generated by <span class="application">Electrum</span> when creating the wallet. But if you lose your seed, you lose your entire wallet.
Turn on the [[Electrum Bitcoin Wallet|persistent_storage/configure#electrum]] feature of the Persistent Storage to store your bitcoin wallet and preferences across separate working sessions.
Click onthe <span class="guimenu">[[!img lib/pan-downopen-menu.png alt="menu toggleMain Menu" class="symbolic" link="no"]]</span> button in the title bar and choose <span class="guilabel">turn on the option **Show Hidden Files</span>**.
