It seems that older versions of WordPress have certain vulnerabilities that are being exploited and the latest hacking incident provided a strong incentive to upgrade the WordPress files. I was planning to upgrade for some time now, but the upgrade instructions (3-step or the more detailed) seem to be a bit daunting. Now, with the recent intrusions, there’s not much choice but to get our hands dirty and explore the upgrade process.
WordPress has detailed instructions on how to go about with the upgrade process. The process seems to be complicated, as noted above. This is the reason why I first tried Fantastico, which appears to have a one-click process. Bad choice. I found out that there are other steps to take and there are problems that can’t be easily resolved. So, back to the manual upgrade using the WP instructions. I realized, even if belatedly, that it’s not as complex as it seems. Here are the steps I took:
1. Backup data. While I had no problem with the manual upgrade, it’s always safer to do a backup. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
2. Deactivate plugins. I noticed that the upgrade proceeded smoothly with all plugins deactivated, while there was a hitch when I forgot to do that in another blog. Fortunately, I found a way of accessing the admin panel even after the error, then I deactivated the plugins. The error vanished after reactivation.
3. Download the latest WP. Go to your blog’s cpanel then upload the .zip file to the /public_html folder (or anywhere the core WP files are stored). Extract it in the same location. A WordPress folder will then be created.
4. Delete old files/upload new files. This is the more difficult task. There are certain files that must be deleted (and certain files that must NOT be deleted, especially the config.php file). You could read about that here. Then I moved (or you could just copy) ALL the files in the uploaded/extracted WP folder (EXCEPT the “includes” folder) to the location of the deleted files. This could be done in a single process.
5. Login. When you login after the upgrade, there’s a two-click process to automatically complete the upgrade. Reactivate the plugins, then play around with the theme and the widgets. Done. Enjoy blogging.
