Learn why it's important to update WordPress core, plugins, and themes, and how to safely update.
Learn why it's important to update WordPress core, plugins, and themes, and how to safely update.
I've been impressed by the Wordfence Security plugin after running it on several sites for a few months. Here are some of my favorite features of this plugin: Scans core files, themes and plugins against WordPress.org repository versions to check their integrity. Lets you see how files have changed, and optionally repair changed files. Scans […]
Since we started using the CloudFlare (free plan) on a few sites a few months ago, it's greatly reduced comment spam and contact form spam. According to our CloudFlare dashboard, it's also blocked many botnet zombies and other threats, reducing the risk of sites being hacked. It also serves as a CDN (content delivery network), but sites […]
BackWPup is a free WordPress plugin that automatically backs up your WordPress database and files. You can back up to your web server, or send your backups offsite (highly recommended). I back my sites up to SugarSync, but you can also back up to Dropbox, Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Rackspace Cloud, and other services. […]
Step-by-step instructions to copy and migrate a WordPress site with the free Duplicator plugin.
WordPress' popularity makes it a frequent malware target. If you suspect your site has malware (and even if you don't), you should scan it for free with Sucuri SiteCheck. The scan checks for several types of malicious threats. Here's a screenshot of what you want to see; all green checkmarks. If the scan finds malware […]
Note added June 18, 2020: When this post was originally written, TLS/SSL certificates could be expensive and difficult to install. Fortunately, things have changed for the better over the last few years. Many web hosts will give you a free Let's Encrypt certificate, and they make it easy to install. Another thing that has changed is […]
You can never be too security-conscious with WordPress, so let's look an excellent security plugin: WP Security Scan. I found out about this plugin from the WordPress 3: Developing Secure Sites course on LinkedIn Learning. This plugin does several things, but I especially like the initial scan, permissions scanner, and database prefix changer. Initial Scan […]
Note: IDrive for WordPress is no longer available. Use ManageWP, Solid Backups, or another solution. I have a new WordPress backup plugin recommendation: IDrive for WordPress. I previously recommended the Backupify plugin, but my backups have been failing, and Backupify told me its plugin is no longer supported. I've used IDrive for backing up PCs […]
Note: Backupify is no longer available for WordPress. Use ManageWP, Solid Backups, or another solution. You know it's important to back up your WordPress sites. Backupify gives you 2 GB of storage for free, and the Backupify plugin backs up your site files and database. You can back up multiple WordPress sites into a single […]
Update 10/2/2012: The Update Notifier plugin hasn't been updated since 9/20/2010. I've switched to WP Updates Notifier, a fork of Update Notifier that's being actively maintained. The Update Notifier plugin sends email notifications for updates to WordPress, and, optionally, updates to plugins and themes (the components that would normally notify you on the Updates page […]