Posts tagged wp

Changing WP Table prefixes

0
1395 days
by in Web-related, WordPress

As a security tip you should always change the default table prefix "wp_", mainly to avoid zero-day vulnerabilities (Vulnerabilities that haven't been discovered yet), or JavaScript SQL injection.

A very good tool you could use for that purpose is the WP-Security-Scan plugin, which takes care of all your security problems, including that one.
The problem is that most of the times it is very hard to get it to change the prefix. Because of that you will have to do it manually.

Changing the table prefix manually

Step 1

Backup! the most important thing of all, backup, backup everything, often and early ;)

Step 2

Install the "Maintenance mode" plugin, this way while you change the prefix no one will see errors in your site.

Step 3

Chose now a very hard prefix, for this example I'm using df7s_23c_.
Change the current prefix in wp-config.php, but you shouldn't upload it yet.
Now start changing the table names to the new ones. (I recommend using phpMyAdmin for this, as it will make next step easier)

Step 4

This is very important!
There are some rows in your new tables that need to be updated:

  1. Go to the former table wp_options (Now df7s_23c_options in the example) and change the following rows (It is recommended to search for "%wp_%" so that you get a list of the rows to edit):
    1. wp_user_roles
    2. wp_cron_backup_tables
    3. wp_cron_backup_schedule
    4. wp_cron_backup_recipient
  2. Now go to the former table wp_usermeta (Now df7s_23c_usermeta in the example) and change the following rows:
    1. wp_capabilities
    2. wp_user_level
    3. wp_autosave_draft_ids

Finishing

Upload the file wp-config.php if you haven't done so before, and check to see if it works.
If it doesn't make sure that all of the tables have been correctly renamed, and all the rows listed above. If it doesn't work yet there might be some plugins that created a table containing in it's rows the wp_ table prefix. If that is the case check all your plugin-created tables to ensure that none of the fields containt the old prefix.

If you still get problems replace your backup and wp-config.php and contact me through the comments of this post and I'll try to help you

My favourite WP Plugins

0
1410 days
by in General talk, Web-related, WordPress

After searching around for a bit for useful and good plugins, I've found 13 plugins that I find crucial.
And so, here is my list, they are in alphabetical order:

  1. AddThis - Social bookmarking widget: Just scroll to the end of this post to see it in action ;)
  2. Adsense Manager - Put some ads here in the site, even though the revenue never amounts more than a dollar... :(
  3. All in one SEO pack - Generate the necessary meta-tags at the start of every page in your blog, very useful to be a little bit more "Search Engine Friendly"
  4. Code Highlighter - For programming blogs like mine this is a great plugin. Put all your code inside a pre tag, set the language to the corresponding one, and you've got it highlighted!
  5. Download Counter - When you offer stuff to download, like I do in my sample pages and stuff, it is always nice to have a counter of how many people actually download your stuff :)
  6. FeedBurner FeedSmith - Redirect your feeds to a feedburner feed, a very interesting option that allows you to use the feedburner feedstats!
  7. Google Analyticator - Insert your Analytics tracking code in your blog, to be able to access google's most powerful stats tool.
  8. Google XML Sitemaps - Automatically create sitemaps and notify several search engines with this great plugin
  9. Role Manager - Easily manage user roles and privileges with this amazing plugin. Great for blogs with multiple contributors, editors or admins.
  10. StatPress - One of the nicest blog stats tool, similar to google's analytics, but I prefer to have both, as each offers different information.
  11. Subscribe to comments - Give your visitors the ability to receive emails upon follow-up comments.
  12. wp-Cache - Easy caching for your blog, makes loading time faster, and reduces significantly your mysql queries.
  13. Typogrify - Correct some "aesthetic" issues regarding text, like thin spaces, widows, quotes and much more.

And of course the built-in great Akismet spam filter, which works astoundingly great, and some other "minor plugins" that I don't consider to be enough important to be here...
If you liked this list and you are a stumbler please consider thumbing me up ;) Thanks for your support!

If have suggestions on other great plugins please comment!

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