Upgrading wordpress

[green mum]

Morning!

I have a wordpress blog which I must admit I have neglected for some time -I now want to get back on track with it though. The site tells me that I need to upgrade to the next version so I've clicked on upgrade and it gives me the option to download the latest version.

Bit worried about doing this as not sure what will happen next! Is it usually a straight forward thing to do (for someone with basic IT skills like myself!) or is this something I should pay someone to do? It does seem to be running slowly and I've also been getting a few registered users on the site recently which I'm not sure should happen? I'm hoping an upgrade might sort this out?

Thanks for your help
:|

 

[Interconnect IT]

It's easy - just make sure you backup (and know how to restore of course!) first. Depending on your hosting that will vary in how easy or difficult it is.

Then follow the upgrade instructions.

If you want us to do it for you, and to document how you can do it safely yourself in the future then feel free to drop me a line. I'm currently working on the basis of doing one WordPress upgrade per day.

 

[crossdaz]

Bit worried about doing this as not sure what will happen next! Is it usually a straight forward thing to do (for someone with basic IT skills like myself!) or is this something I should pay someone to do? It does seem to be running slowly and I've also been getting a few registered users on the site recently which I'm not sure should happen? I'm hoping an upgrade might sort this out?

:|

'Wordpress automatic Upgrade Plug-In'

Download it, activate it and it does all the hard work for you

 

[Interconnect IT]

One caveat - you need to do your backups yourself, properly, first - even if using a plugin to do the job. After all, you don't know if something could go wrong - and Murphy's Law applies

Also be aware that you may have problems if your hosting is in php Safe mode. Some upgraders warn of this, some don't!

 

[jasonslater]

What version are you currently on?

Also, do you want people to be able to register? If not go into Settings, Membership and ensure "Anyone can register" is unchecked.

 

[epiphany]

Back up the files from the ftp and back up the database. If you do that no matter what you screw up you will be able to get everything back to normal. If you are able to backup those two things yourself then you are capable of giving it a go yourself.

Depending how old your version and what plugins you are using you may have issues with upgrading all the way to the latest wordpress.

 

[Interconnect IT]

An ftp and database backup doesn't backup settings. Ideally you need to back up a snapshot of the server in case you really mess things up. You can't necessarily do that with all hosting packages, but it's worth having the facility if you can.

Of course, it's just a blog - it's not system critical for most. But for some it is and with that in mind the advice has to be appropriate.

 

[PI Guy]

i jusr upgraded my blog and it took a few minutes and couldn't be easier. I'm very impresses with that plugin

 

[green mum]

Thanks everyone - I'll investigate this and interconnect I may give you a shout if it all gets too much!