Minecraft skins/textures safe download sites?
September 13, 2011 2:56 PM Subscribe
Paranoid, computer-unsavvy mom seeks advice! My son wants to download skins & texture packs for minecraft. I've lost too many good computers to be willing to risk downloading from unknowns. Looking for a trustworthy site to download skins and/or texture packs for Minecraft. Suggestions?
Skins and textures should be perfectly harmless. The skins aren't even installed to your local game; you have to go to your profile on Minecraft.net and upload the skin image there.
Texture packs go in %APPDATA%\Roaming\.minecraft (in the textures folder, don't recall the name offhand) and should be likewise harmless. Just move the ZIP file into there.
Game mods (.jar files) contain program code and can be potentially malicious. On top of that, they require some tech savvy to install. Avoid these.
posted by neckro23 at 4:08 PM on September 13, 2011
Texture packs go in %APPDATA%\Roaming\.minecraft (in the textures folder, don't recall the name offhand) and should be likewise harmless. Just move the ZIP file into there.
Game mods (.jar files) contain program code and can be potentially malicious. On top of that, they require some tech savvy to install. Avoid these.
posted by neckro23 at 4:08 PM on September 13, 2011
I've lost too many good computers to be willing to risk downloading from unknowns.
Then you need to embrace the goodness that is separate user accounts.
If you and your son have separate user accounts on your computer, and these are both limited accounts, and you set up a third administrative account that you only ever use for computer maintenance (software and hardware installation and upgrades or other things that result in Access Denied errors when you attempt them from your limited account) and only you know the password to your personal and administrative accounts, then basically the only thing your son can screw up is his own user account.
Every modern operating system allows this kind of setup. If you're interested in trying it out, post back and tell us which one you're using and somebody will help you set it up.
posted by flabdablet at 4:47 PM on September 13, 2011 [4 favorites]
Then you need to embrace the goodness that is separate user accounts.
If you and your son have separate user accounts on your computer, and these are both limited accounts, and you set up a third administrative account that you only ever use for computer maintenance (software and hardware installation and upgrades or other things that result in Access Denied errors when you attempt them from your limited account) and only you know the password to your personal and administrative accounts, then basically the only thing your son can screw up is his own user account.
Every modern operating system allows this kind of setup. If you're interested in trying it out, post back and tell us which one you're using and somebody will help you set it up.
posted by flabdablet at 4:47 PM on September 13, 2011 [4 favorites]
Flabdablet has very good advice here that should be done for every home computer. Windows tends to embrace "administrator by default" which is definitely not safe for day to day browsing.
As far as the texture packs, just be wary of anything that comes in .exe format. Minecraft is also popular enough that it is a possible target for drive-by infections or account stealers. Keep your system up to date with critical patches and 3rd party updates to avoid browser hijacks. Install Web of Trust to help you navigate to reputable sites, and submit suspicious files to VirusTotal when in doubt.
posted by samsara at 8:32 PM on September 13, 2011
As far as the texture packs, just be wary of anything that comes in .exe format. Minecraft is also popular enough that it is a possible target for drive-by infections or account stealers. Keep your system up to date with critical patches and 3rd party updates to avoid browser hijacks. Install Web of Trust to help you navigate to reputable sites, and submit suspicious files to VirusTotal when in doubt.
posted by samsara at 8:32 PM on September 13, 2011
It's almost impossible for a minecraft texture pack or mod to do any damage to your computer, but if he doesn't know what he's doing, there's a decent chance he's could wreck his minecraft save games, so he might want to back them up first before he does any thing that's going to make him sad.
The best place to download mods from is the minecraft forums.
posted by empath at 12:32 AM on September 14, 2011
The best place to download mods from is the minecraft forums.
posted by empath at 12:32 AM on September 14, 2011
you can be sure if a download on the minecraft forums is bad, that the people in the thread will be completely livid. You should be able to tell which ones are well supported after looking at a few posts.
posted by yeahyeahyeahwhoo at 7:11 AM on September 14, 2011
posted by yeahyeahyeahwhoo at 7:11 AM on September 14, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
more sources listed at the bottom of this page
posted by radiosilents at 3:15 PM on September 13, 2011