Is there a site where a person can download themes, backgrounds, screen savers, etc., and not get attacked when you try to download the file. I've tried numerous sites, specifically themexp.org and wincustomize, but they're not worth it when I get 20 things of spyware and trackers.
I have no idea why you believe WinCustomize has downloads full of ad/spyware. It has NONE. I know, I am a subscriber, and WinCustomize is for those that use WindowBlinds...I have yet to see any MS themes on that site.
As far as ThemeXP.org goes, well that site has been full of garbage for a long time now. All their new downloads are packaged with adware...however with a few clicks of the mouse and a very old command line, you can extract those themes from the package without launching or installing the adware**.
However, there are hundreds of theme sites. Most of which use member support to run so they don't need any adware to package along with the downloads.
**To extract themes from adware packages. (You'll need Winrar or Winzip, I prefer Winrar)
Create two folders with simple names, for example C:\Temp1 and C:\Temp2, because you will be using a DOS run command. Move the file to C:\Temp1 and rename the file to something small, less than 8 letters is preferred. For example, if the file name is Vista Black theme.exe then name it VistaBk.exe.
The run command will automatically start to give you a list of things to choose from as you type.
Start, Run type in c:\temp1\vistabk.exe /x c:\temp2 then hit enter. You will see what looks like the start of the installation, then your screen will go return. (my sample pics use two different drives, and an actual download from ThemeXP.org)
Have your firewall up and running incase the extraction process does launch a file within the package...but most of the time it will not.
Now, go to the Temp2 folder, and have a look. All the adware programs will now be separated from the rest...and will have .exe extensions. What you are looking for is this: %EXENAME% <<that's your theme.
Open up Winrar. Or right click the file, Open with Winrar. Click on that file in Winrar, extract it to your desktop, install as you normally would.
