The Value Of Backups – WordPress

Posted on by Armando Aguilar

Our site was attacked recently with vicious malware that went deep into our website. No user information was taken, that wasn't the point of this nasty thing. The point was to redirect all of our visitors automatically to their junk. That junk could be either something to buy, or something that you would need to download in order for it to do its sinister duties.

As stated, there were no user accounts affected and no passwords or sensitive data stolen. It took many hours to finally remove all of the scripts, but it's finally done, thanks in large part to the team at IONOS.

I can't stress enough how important site security is. If you can afford it, buy it. Find the best site security package for your site and buy it. IONOS currently has a scan and remove security package for just $5.99/month. You can find that here.

Backing up your WordPress website is so vital to the success of your business. Setting up automatic backups are even better. We took some time off and one of the reasons this penetrated so deeply into our site was because our previous backup process stored data for 5 days. By the time we got back to work, it had been well beyond that, so our most recent backup was compromised. It is good practice to backup daily onto a local hard drive. Here at Royalty Online Business, that was a practice of the past, however, we chose (incorrectly) to go with a paid solution that just wasn't right for us.

There are great plugins out there, paid and free, that back up your website for you automatically and daily. A good choice would be to find a plugin that allows you to download the backups off of their servers. Do some research, make sure your information (and more importantly, your customers) is safe. Again, make sure you're saving local copies of your sites data on a safe and secure drive or server.

Lastly, keep your plugins updated.

This malware took advantage of a plugin that was not updated. Most plugin owners or businesses take security very seriously. When you have 800,000 people using your plugin, that is probably a wise thing to do. While there are options to keep plugins updated automatically, it is important to note that not all updates will work with your version of WordPress. Keep that in mind when updating your plugin. If it's a security patch, maybe disable your plugin until it's compatible with your version of WordPress.

Security is everything. Keep your business safe. Keep your customers safe.

How To Remove the Sub-Header in WordPress

Posted on by Armando Aguilar

What is the sub-header?

The sub-header is the secondary header on your website or page. Occasionally, you won’t always have the option to disable your sub-header and in some circumstances, you may want or need to. As an example, I am currently working on a website for a customer, kkfabrication.com. The theme I’ve chosen to use has a sub-header that automatically displays breadcrumbs (which I can’t stand). So, in this instance, I need to remove the sub-header. This is WordPress, however, and there are ways to disable the breadcrumbs, BUT we’ll save that for another day. So let’s dive in to this super simple and easy way to disable the sub-header.

Navigating To The Sub-Header

The sub-header can be found two ways: through the dashboard and via the customize option displayed at the top of your page when you’re signed in as an admin.

 

Editing the CSS

Now comes the easy part. You should see a menu with many options. At the bottom of this is “Additional CSS”. Go ahead and select that.

Entering the Code

Once you’ve selected “Additional CSS”, you should see the following. Copy and insert the code below the image and that’s it!

#site-subheader
{display:none;}

You’re done!

That’s all there is to it, go ahead and click update and you’re good to go. Enjoy!

Are you interested in knowing how to do more? Visit our contact page and send us a message!

How To Disable The WordPress Admin Bar

Posted on by Armando Aguilar

How To Disable The WordPress Admin Bar

If you have a website where you can have members, chances are you don’t want them accessing the backend of your site in any way (unless they’re an admin). If you’re wondering how to get rid of that pesky admin WordPress bar at the top of your site for anyone that’s just a customer or subscriber, read on.

(Warning: if you are not comfortable editing your sites code, please refrain from doing so until you’re comfortable. We are not responsible for damage done to your site. Feel free to learn about a great plugin called “Code Snippet” that allows you to add to your functions.php without going directly into it – Click here to learn more)

 

Let’s Dive In…

Alright, so, we’re going to go into the dreaded code of your website. To do this, we’re going to first go to Appearance, then we’re going to go to Theme Editor.

Now that you’re in…

Now that you’ve selected Theme Editor, you should see a page with coding. Go ahead and dismiss any notification about ruining your site (BUT PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF IT). Select Theme Functions (functions.php).

You’re doing great!

You should see code that basically takes up all of your screen. Scroll all the way down after you’ve selected theme functions. Copy the following code and paste it all the way at the bottom of your code.

add_action('after_setup_theme', 'remove_admin_bar');
 
function remove_admin_bar() {
if (!current_user_can('administrator') && !is_admin()) {
  show_admin_bar(false);
}
}

And that’s it!

Click update file and you’re done!