i got my mn up,i think properly, i started receiving payouts pretty quickly. im just having trouble with a few things and was hoping someone could lead me in the right direction.
when my vps shuts down,and comp goes to sleep, my mn time starts over.(it hasnt been up a full 72 so im not sure if thats making it start over or not)

also, is there a command for linux to confirm that your mn is running properly?(i helped with a btdx mn and the command for it was --bitcloudd-- it would come back and say, bitcloud mn started successfully)

and my last question,is about staking rewards. i see alot of warnings before encrypting wallet. i believe i just meed to encrypt wallet to begin staking rewards but i wanted to confirm that thats all i need to do. had a friend encrypt his wallet and when he pulled it back up all coins were gone lol. dont wanna end up in the same boat.
  thanks for the help in advance