Security

Updating Wordpress

It is very important that you keep your WordPress site, theme and plugins updated as frequently as possible. This ensures that any security issues are fixed promptly.

You can update easily from within WordPress, or you can do this manually by downloading the latest WordPress files, theme files and/or plugin files, extracting them on your hard drive and then uploading the files to your site. We'll cover instructions for both methods here.

IMPORTANT SECURITY WARNING: If you update from within WordPress, then you will be required to enter your CGI Server account FTP host and login information in a form on a page or popup in WordPress (ie. in your web browser). This may not be safe! Especially if you are concerned your site might be compromised. Sometimes malware can gather the information you enter into a form and use it to log into your CGI Server account and alter your WordPress installation, thus infecting it. We recommend you do the Manual Update method instead, for greater security.

IMPORTANT: Always back up your WordPress site, plugin and theme files and your MySQL database before doing any updates.

Manual Update

1. Download the fresh install of WordPress, theme or plugin from the original WordPress web site. Extract the files into a temporary directory on your hard drive.

2. Log into your CGI Server Account via FTP.

3. If updating WordPress itself, download your wp-config.php file and any dot files (.htaccess in any of the directories that you placed them in). Be sure your FTP client is set up to view hidden files so you can see the dot files.

4. If updating WordPress itself, compare your wp-config.php to the wp-sample-config.php file in the new download. If there are any new items that need to be added, copy and paste them into your current wp-config.php file.

5. If updating WordPress itself, compare any dot files with ones that WordPress furnishes (if any) and be sure that all information from WordPress' files are also included in your files of the same name (if any) for that directory.

6. In your FTP program, remove any files that you will be replacing first. Then upload the fresh files. If replacing WordPress itself, you do not want to remove the WordPress directory! Your configurations, .htaccess files and files and folders in wp-content folder are being used by WordPress (with the exception of Themes and Plugins, which you may want to remove if replacing with an updated theme or plugin).

7. Go to your WordPress site in your web browser and follow any upgrade instructions. There may be times when you have to click a button or link to have WordPress update the database.

8. Log into your WordPress Dashboard and ensure that you have updated WordPress, the theme and/or plugins.

Updating Within WordPress

1. Log into your WordPress Dashboard.

2. Click on Updates

3. If WordPress needs updating, click the Update Now button.

4. If asked, enter your CGI Server account FTP login host name and information.

The update may take awhile. Allow it to finish fully. Do not close your browser until it finishes!

To update plugins and themes, click on Updates on the left, and then click Select All next to Plugins (or Themes) then click the Update Plugins (or Update Themes) button. As with updating wordpress, you may need to enter your CGI Server account FTP information.