Can’t Use Backup Software, even after Deleting/Troubleshooting

I have really loved using WordFence until I purchased an excellent backup/migrate plugin for my WordPress websites.

On the sites where I never had Wordfence installed the backup plugin works perfectly.

On the sites where I have Wordfence installed it keeps blocking me from doing backups to my Google Drive account (which worked easily on non-Wordfence websites).

When I try to connect with Google, I get the message:
“Block Reason: A potentially unsafe operation has been detected in your request to this site”
Ok. Fine.
So I deactivated and deleted WordFence. (I have always liked Securi better, anyway).
I purged the cache.
Then I tried again to connect to Google and got the same block. HOW CAN A DEACTIVATED PLUGIN BLOCK AN ACTION?!?!?!

Then I went into my file manager and followed some troubleshooting methods outlined in the support pages about someone getting completely locked out of their site after deactivating Wordfence.

None of that helped, either. There was not a hint of Wordfence left on my site and yet I am still not able to do what I want to do.

I shouldn’t even have to go do a deep dive into my files to clear this plugin from my site, but even after doing so it is giving me trouble.

This plugin is more insidious than the viruses and hackers it claims to protect my site from.

After I figure out how to clear all of this Wordfence nonsense from my sites (maybe I never can) will will never, ever use this plugin again and I recommend you do not either.

I am losing days working on this, though, and I will never get that back. And I don’t feel like I should have to pay for pro service because their hacking plugin is not operating in an ethical fashion.

I rarely leave reviews but this has been so annoying and time consuming that I felt I had to warn others.

The backup plugin is Backup-Guard Pro. It is fantastic when Wordfence isn’t getting in the way.