Help:Installing Bitcoin Core

Beginning steps

Download and install Bitcoin.
On first running Bitcoin, you need need to download all the blocks before being able to use it.
This time around, Bitcoin took 40 mins to download them. Others have reported longer times.
Bitcoin Faucet hands out 0.05 BTC to new visitors in order to play with. Fill in the form with your address.
A new entry should appear in Bitcoin. The network hasn't yet confirmed it, but you know it's being processed.
The more confirms gathered, the more sure you become of the transfer's validity. After 6 confirms, you can be 100% sure everything was successful. It takes a while to process payments, so be patient.

You don't need to be online for receiving BTC.
You can create as many new addresses as you like. Using a different address each time makes you more anonymous.
With certain precaution, you can be anonymous.
You cannot send BTC to an invalid address. Typo's are not a worry as the payment will refuse to send.