Hello!

First off I'm a new member and poster just trying to get started so please forgive my inadequacies as I'm certain they will be numerous, and hopefully humorous. I Started mining early this year after I was finally able to build my first desktop PC. Since then the crypto market has exploded leaving me to wonder why I didn't start sooner. It can be complicated to get started, luckily there are several guides out there and even programs that make it much simpler. ![logo_big_light.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmS5xuR4eANnerUJQWfY4qeLnZ32qfdLjhE4HFwWptHBsb/logo_big_light.png) NiceHash is one of these programs. It automates the mining process so that anyone with a basic understanding of computers can get started quickly and simply. I am in no way affiliated with NiceHash or any other crypto business other then investing. I simply enjoy the ease of use they provide and I found their hashrate reporting to be more fair then that of their competitors. (minergate) I mined happily for several months receiving regular payouts and watching the crypto train gain steem. Everything was going great until earlier this month when the unthinkable happened. NiceHash got hacked. I'm not going to go into the details about how this may have happened as conspiracy theories abound but one thing is certain, whoever did this ruined many peoples holiday season. I believe NiceHash is trying to do the right thing here by at least attempting to communicate and hopefully they will see the light and reimburse everyone their lost coins. In the meantime I believed I was left with the choice of minergate or setting up my own miner and pointing it at one of the many available pools. Not a hard choice for reasons mentioned earlier. However this may not be ideal if you are just starting out. Setting up your own miner can involve literally minutes of time and I understand some people will not accept this. Normally then I would recommend NiceHash but since they have been offline for several days now and you may or may not want to work with a company that was just compromised, I am happy to share an alternative that I just learned about myself. ![logo.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUsmRqBemkozeQ9tnzg3nrFmhKB9kdwSaydTy9hfAtwrm/logo.png) BetterHash is another one click solution for mining on your x64 based PC. From what I can tell so far their hashrate reporting is fair and setup couldn't be any simpler. If anyone asked my how to start mining right now this would be my recommendation. The other would be to withdraw your coins to a secure wallet that you control as soon as possible so that when the next hack happens your losses are minimal. Any comments or critiques are greatly appreciated. It's great to be here in this new community, lets take steem to the moon. Thank you kold3n