Minecraft: Having problems finding mods/safe web sites?

I been playing Minecraft for 5 months now. I still don't know anything about mods or skins. It seems all the web sites I go to for them are not safe. By that I mean when I go download the file it always redirects me to another web site that looks totally fake. When I do download it I get bunch of add on's to my web browsers. Seeing this I remove the whole thing I downloaded.

* Another question… When mods say there for something version 1.6.4 they not going work if your using the up to date version of minecraft?

Added (1). I have googled around for safe web sites for this. Couldn't find much.
The main mod I want is one that adds Herobrine to your Minecraft (single player)

Added (2). *Why couldn't I just get the answer here?

Ask people on the official minecraft forum

PlanetMinecraft is a good place for texture packs, mods, skins, etc. You can also try the SkinDex (minecraftskins.com) for a good number of skins. There's quite a few safe websites but be careful with the mods.