May 23

The best five plug-ins to improve WordPress security

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WordPress is one of the world’s most famous open source blogging tools, and for the most part it is a secure system and webhost. It is known for being extremely easy to use. Just about anyone who has basic Internet knowledge will be able to utilize it properly.

The problem with success and fame is that it makes things a target. Hackers are constantly trying to test its security. Luckily, the makers of WordPress are pretty on the ball and frequently and consistently release patches whenever exploits are discovered. Most of the time, these exploits are used by hackers to spam the blog with search engine optimization related content. Even the simplest webhost can find itself hacked just for black hat search engine techniques.

Couple WordPress’ fame with the fact that it is open source, and you have a field wherein hackers can cause a lot of trouble. Luckily, even automated exploits can be deterred by a simple WordPress upgrade.

For most users, simply consistently updating their WordPress account should be more than enough to handle their security concerns. Others, however, would prefer to have more than just basic security. They want to make sure that their content is protected and that they don’t get hacked into oblivion. Even a day’s worth of downtime might cost them return visitors, if those visitors find the website hacked and filled with spam. There is no exact count of how many blogs are infected with viruses or how many of them have been hacked – what is known is that no one wants to have one of those blogs.

For those who want to make sure that they’ve got extra layers of protection, here are the 5 best plugins for wordpress security. These are all easy to install and easy to use. Even a dedicated hosting service can use more security.

WP Security Scan

WP Security Scan is a program that checks out your installation for any issues or security holes. If it detects any problems, it will make suggestions as to what you can do to shore up your security. It will tell you whether your password is strong enough or not and suggests what you can do to improve it. It will also improve admin security as well as database security. It also hides your WordPress version history to make it more difficult for hackers to exploit any weaknesses in the program. This makes installation a lot safer. Installation is easy. Simply unzip the relevant files into the plugins directory. Future versions claim that it will add the ability to test XSS vulnerabilities.

Secure WordPress

The first thing Secure WordPress does is remove miscellaneous artifacts leftover from the installation process which can make your installation vulnerable to hacking. Just like WP Security Scan it will also hide the installation version, making it more secure. It performs a wide number of security and maintenance functions, such as removing core, plug-in and theme information from those who are not administrators. It also adds a special HTML file to the plug-in directory to make sure that anyone unauthorized can only see a blank page. This can keep a dedicated hosting service safe.

WordPress Database Backup

This is actually the first thing that will be installed after a free installation of WordPress. It makes sure that whatever happens, you have a backup of your data. It lets you choose where to place the data – in an email, on a remote server or in your hard drive. This can allow your blog to recovery quickly from a successful hacker attack or a disastrous server crash. It is relatively easy to install and to use.

Force SSL

This creates a secure SSL connection for your website to use with visitors. Implementation and installation both require an SSL certificate. This basically forces users to connect and access your website using an SSL connection, which is more secure for everyone involved. This makes sure that third-party access is limited, if not impossible. This also makes sure that any information transferred between your site and the user is heavily encrypted, making your site even safer.

Chap Secure Login

For those that don’t have the SSL certification required for a more secure connection, this plug-in can encrypt passwords. It uses the secure Chap protocol to make sure that the passwords remain encrypted while they are being transmitted to the site. In fact, the only thing that isn’t encrypted is your username. This will make sure that a password leak does not become the downfall of your website.

These are only the five best plugins for wordpress security. There are many other security options out there if these aren’t enough. Most of the time, these security options are not mutually exclusive. They can be combined to make your WordPress blog extra secure. This can be extremely important if you are also selling items on that site.

This article has been contributed by WebHostGear, a dedicated hosting service that provides excellent security to keep your webhost and your data safe.

Aug 21

System information WordPress plugin

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I just released a new plugin for WordPress called System information. It adds a system information page that include all the details on your WordPress configuration: server details, php configuration, WordPress configuration, current theme details, plugins details and hooks details. That allows for an easy copy/paste of the information you usually need to communicate to plugin authors for support. Get the System information WordPress plugin.

Aug 18

I apologize for last week-end server outage. While migrating to new servers, the connection between the website and the database broke down making the site unavailable. Now that the migration has now been completed and the problem has been fixed, Joe’s Web Tools is running on shiny new 64 bits servers. What does that mean to you? Well, we now have additional server capacity that will allow us to put more tools online while keeping up with traffic. Please note that widgets were not affected by the outage.

Aug 02

I updated the no disposable email WordPress plugin. The new 2.4.1 version is a minor update, so you can skip it if the plugin is working fine for you. I added an activity log and did further compatibility improvements with some versions of php. Get the no disposable email WordPress plugin.

Aug 01

No disposable email WordPress plugin version 2.4

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I updated the no disposable email WordPress plugin. The new 2.4 version is a minor update, so you can skip it if the plugin is working fine for you. I improved compatibility with some versions of php. Get the no disposable email WordPress plugin.

Aug 01

I updated the born on this day WordPress plugin. The new 2.0 version is a major upgrade. I checked compatibility with WordPress 2.8.2, fixed a bug where there was no data for July 24, did some minor localization work, added a new [born-on-this-day] shortcode, upgraded the code to the new WordPress 2.8 widget structure and changed the widget date to use WordPress date format. You just have to put [born-on-this-day] in your posts or pages to have an embedded widget (see below). Get the born on this day WordPress plugin.

Born on this day
September 22, 2023
1515 Anne of Cleves
1880 Christabel Pankhurst
1885 Erich Von Stroheim
1914 Martha Scott
1923 Dr.Dannie Abse
1935 Fay Weldon
1948 Capt. Mark Phillips
1949 David Coverdale
1956 Debbie Boone

Jul 29

Calculator WordPress plugin version 2.0

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I updated the calculator WordPress plugin. The new 2.0 version is a major upgrade. I checked compatibility with WordPress 2.8.2, improved XHTML compliance, did some minor localization work and added a new [calculator] shortcode. You just have to put [calculator] in your posts or pages to have an embedded widget (see below). Get the calculator WordPress plugin.

Calculator

Jul 27

Ephemeris WordPress plugin version 2.0

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I updated the ephemeris WordPress plugin. The new 2.0 version is a major upgrade. I checked compatibility with WordPress 2.8.2, integrated the Hungarian translation by Tamas Koos, added a new [ephemeris] shortcode and upgraded the code to the new WordPress 2.8 widget structure. You just have to put [ephemeris] in your posts or pages to have an embedded widget (see below). Get the ephemeris WordPress plugin.

Ephemeris
Virgo
Sun in Virgo
2 degrees
Sagittarius
Moon in Sagittarius
24 degrees
First Quarter Moon
First Quarter Moon
7 days old

Jul 24

I just finished updating the export emails WordPress plugin. The new 1.3 version is a minor update (compatibility check, remove emails from comments marked as spam from the list), so you can skip it if the plugin is working fine for you. Get the export emails WordPress plugin.

Jul 24

I just finished updating the fun facts WordPress plugin. The new 2.0 version is a major upgrade. The widget code uses WordPress 2.8 widget architecture and I added a shortcode. You just have to put [fun-facts] in your posts or pages to have an embedded widget (see below). Get the fun facts WordPress plugin.

Fun Facts
Abraham Lincoln faces to the right on a penny while all the other presidents face to the left on US coins.