3rd Party Customized Themes Safe or Not ???

[madyrocksin]

I always get attracted towards those awesome themes for my XP and Windows 7 but there always a feeling that those are not safe !!

Can anybody here confirm if using third party themes can compromise security ???

Like i know everything or anything can be infected, but how often have you seen a theme to be infected, what are the things one must see to check if its safe or not, can you suggest me some safe websites ??

 

[Plexx]

If you use either Windowsblind or the good old UXtheme patch you are fine. Most of us download the themes from deviantart.

 

[madyrocksin]

If you use either Windowsblind or the good old UXtheme patch you are fine. Most of us download the themes from deviantart.

yes i was talking more about the UXtheme patch, but the files used after patching, are they safe or have you seen any kind of infection in them ??

 

[Plexx]

Xidus, me, nearly everyone used it.

I cant remember exactly the link for the patcher tho but there are several ways to do it.

PM MrXidus, I am sure he will show you the ropes.

Alternative use WindowBlinds but thats a paid product (unless you want the limitations of the free which I don't even know if they still have), IconPackager (both from stardock) and your sources are from wincustomize and deviantart etc.

Hope this helps.

 

[madyrocksin]

Xidus, me, nearly everyone used it.

I cant remember exactly the link for the patcher tho but there are several ways to do it.

PM MrXidus, I am sure he will show you the ropes.

Alternative use WindowBlinds but thats a paid product (unless you want the limitations of the free which I don't even know if they still have), IconPackager (both from stardock) and your sources are from wincustomize and deviantart etc.

Hope this helps.

Yes indeed that helped.
No, i know where to download the patch file from, but just wanted to know if any theme file used was safe !!

 

[malbky]

They are safe madddy. No worries. I myself use a lot of custo. Go ahead and install visual styles without fear. Dont install skin packs as they may install extra software which can be malicious. Also only download from deviant art as it is safe there. For patching files you can also use vista Glazz.

 

[madyrocksin]

They are safe madddy. No worries. I myself use a lot of custo. Go ahead and install visual styles without fear. Dont install skin packs as they may install extra software which can be malicious. Also only download from deviant art as it is safe there. For patching files you can also use vista Glazz.

Oh thanks will see more into it never explored deviant much, but looks like now i will have too

 

[Plexx]

Deviantart also has skins for Rainmeter, Icons, cursors, wallpapers and my favorite: lanscapes wallpapers. Beware of the EXE packs of icons mainly , like malbky said. You can still trus most of them from Deviantart but mainly if they are hosted in the actual deviantart site.

 

[House_maniac]

i've always use them they are safe they are only some dll replaced as microsoft blocked custom visual style so don't worry go ahead!

 

[madyrocksin]

Deviantart also has skins for Rainmeter, Icons, cursors, wallpapers and my favorite: lanscapes wallpapers. Beware of the EXE packs of icons mainly , like malbky said. You can still trus most of them from Deviantart but mainly if they are hosted in the actual deviantart site.

Thanks for the tips i will make sure of them

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i've always use them they are safe they are only some dll replaced as microsoft blocked custom visual style so don't worry go ahead!

yea the uxtheme.dll that has to be patched to use any 3rd party theme,
thanks for the reply

 

[WinAndLinuxTutorials]

If the 3rd party theme was put in an SFX self extracting file, I prefer to extract it using an archive manager, not by executing them. Because when using an archive manager that I will not mention for security purposes (anyway it is popular ) to create an SFX archive, you have the option to auto launch an exe file when extracting, which is quite risky. I have seen this once on DeviantART, there was an XP theme packed in SFX archive, my web protection blocked it, so I tested it in a VM. Unfortunately I dont remember how it infected the system since my brain is more like a RAM (information gets deleted when shutdown).

Also if you have used a well known and safe theme patcher downloaded from a trusted site no need to worry.

 

[House_maniac]

Deviantart also has skins for Rainmeter, Icons, cursors, wallpapers and my favorite: lanscapes wallpapers. Beware of the EXE packs of icons mainly , like malbky said. You can still trus most of them from Deviantart but mainly if they are hosted in the actual deviantart site.

Thanks for the tips i will make sure of them

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i've always use them they are safe they are only some dll replaced as microsoft blocked custom visual style so don't worry go ahead!

yea the uxtheme.dll that has to be patched to use any 3rd party theme,
thanks for the reply

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you are welcome btw sexy signature you got here who made that

 

[McLovin]

For Windows XP, I don't know but for Windows 7 all you have to do is look on Deviantart and you will find some good ones

 

[madyrocksin]

If the 3rd party theme was put in an SFX self extracting file, I prefer to extract it using an archive manager, not by executing them. Because when using an archive manager that I will not mention for security purposes (anyway it is popular ) to create an SFX archive, you have the option to auto launch an exe file when extracting, which is quite risky. I have seen this once on DeviantART, there was an XP theme packed in SFX archive, my web protection blocked it, so I tested it in a VM. Unfortunately I dont remember how it infected the system since my brain is more like a RAM (information gets deleted when shutdown).

Also if you have used a well known and safe theme patcher downloaded from a trusted site no need to worry.

Oh i didn't knew about the self extracting thing could be used in theme as well, will take note about it

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Deviantart also has skins for Rainmeter, Icons, cursors, wallpapers and my favorite: lanscapes wallpapers. Beware of the EXE packs of icons mainly , like malbky said. You can still trus most of them from Deviantart but mainly if they are hosted in the actual deviantart site.

Thanks for the tips i will make sure of them

---

i've always use them they are safe they are only some dll replaced as microsoft blocked custom visual style so don't worry go ahead!

yea the uxtheme.dll that has to be patched to use any 3rd party theme,
thanks for the reply

---

you are welcome btw sexy signature you got here who made that

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Hahaha you know that better

 

[madyrocksin]

For Windows XP, I don't know but for Windows 7 all you have to do is look on Deviantart and you will find some good ones

Yea deviantart looks good for windows 7 !!

 

[malbky]

Some themes I recommend is Metro Luna and Aero+. Also use a software like Tuneup Styler or Icon Packager for applying icons. Avoid skin packs and if you do use just check comments and upload to VT and do a scan. Some AVs like Norton report certain skin packs as viruses.

 

[jamescv7]

3rd Party Themes

Actually there are pretty safe, some are legal application and others were hacks.

However be careful on how you will conduct caused doing a mistake may caused trouble.

There could be viruses on themes so just grab from trusted source, follow the steps carefully and always make a backup before doing anything so.

 

[madyrocksin]

Some themes I recommend is Metro Luna and Aero+. Also use a software like Tuneup Styler or Icon Packager for applying icons. Avoid skin packs and if you do use just check comments and upload to VT and do a scan. Some AVs like Norton report certain skin packs as viruses.

i see metro luna and aero, i have used some icon packager, i get a slow down feeling so i guess i will avoid that, yea using VT would be much better

 

[madyrocksin]

3rd Party Themes

Actually there are pretty safe, some are legal application and others were hacks.

However be careful on how you will conduct caused doing a mistake may caused trouble.

There could be viruses on themes so just grab from trusted source, follow the steps carefully and always make a backup before doing anything so.

I am starting from deviantart and customize.org seems safe,
yea i have already taken a back up !!

 

[malbky]

I only stick to devaintart. I suppose I got an infected file from customize.org Most of the time the author of the theme himself will use the recommend software like a s/w for changing start ORB. So only use that one or go for a trusted one. If you dont want much mess just use the Visual Style. Always remember read user comments, then you will come to know if a theme really works or not.