Yes, disabled plugins are still a risk, but only if they contain an exploitable vulnerability. Which is why it is recommended that you delete old plugins that haven’t been updated in a long time. If a hacker guesses that you may have a vulnerable plugin installed, they can potentially execute the vulnerable file on your site by calling it directly. So as soon as you verify that your new plugin is working correctly, delete the old plugin. What you can do is copy the CSS rules from Custom CSS into a text file that you keep on your local computer. That way you will always have them handy, even if you delete the plugin.
I still have the Akismet in my site. I never used it as I am not blogging, it came with the Sugar & Spice theme. I have it disabled since the beginning. I see that it still is being updated, not sure if I should remove or leave it?? If it came with the theme, what is best to do?
Thank you so much for the advice with the Custom CSS and your earlier recommendation for a replacement, I am so very grateful!
Thank you again!
Hello again,
when I first started my website you recommended Firebug to me, and it was wonderfully helpful. I now have Firefox Quantum, and unfortunately it is no longer compatible. Would you by chance have a recommendation?
Thank you very kindly again for your wonderful assistance!
Fleurette
If you right-click on a web page, you don’t get an item in the pop-up menu that reads Inspect element? I personally like using Chrome’s built-in Developer Tools (DevTools). It works very much the same way as Firebug, and I don’t think you’ll have any problem transitioning over to it. I actually like Chrome DevTools better than Firebug, because with DevTools, when I hover over a line in the source code, the element in the web page gets overlayed with a colored block, and it’s easier to see the margins and padding.
As far as Akismet goes, I removed mine, and it should be safe to remove yours as well.
Hello again,
thank you very much! I truly appreciate it.
with kind regards,
Fleurette
