The Dangers OF One Click WordPress Installation
For many people the prospect of getting a domain name and hosting account with the promise of one click installation and hey presto you have yourself a blog and ready to go is all too tempting. But I have bad news for you.
One click install leaves your blog compromised and open to attack from hackers, and believe you me this is not a scare tactic to get you to purchase an installation service from me or any other service provider. If you can do it you are better off installing your blog manually yourself.
Here is the problem with One Click install: When you use programs like Fantastico to install your blog it creates the database, allocates the username and a password for you – all that is FANTASTICO eh? not so fast hozey! In all the cases that I have seen and dealt with, all of the database name and the database user are all similar if not exactly the same. The only thing protecting your installation now is the jumbled up password. Not much of a defence mechanism if you ask me!
The main problem here is you as the user then have no permission to change it in the future. Unless ofcours you go through the headache of dealing with the hosting company to obtain the relevant privileges to the necessary files. Or you can then employ a professional to sort it out for you, and trust me you will be charged a fortune for it. As you can see now its not that fantastico eh! So why leave it to chance? Why give hackers an easy access to your hard work? Why not do it once but do it right!
- As a side note here is food for thought: Websites/blogs are being compared to having a virtual property. Just like their counterparts in the real estate of actual properties there are 2 rules of noteworthy -
1) In carpentry when cutting measure twice and cut once!
2) A rogue builder will leave you a bill twice as much as it would have been if you had got it done by a professional service provider.
Apply these 2 rules to your virtual estates and you do just fine 
My advice is to have your installation done manually from scratch and leave yourself with peace of mind of having full and total control of your blog. I can not stress this strongly enough, stay away from the “One click install” fad which ever program you are using. A manual installation weather you do it yourself or get a professional to do it for you will save you a lot of money as well as heartaches later on down the line.
good
i disagree with most things said! but then again who am i to decide, some good points taken though
Hi, nice post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for posting. I will definitely be subscribing to your blog.
Yeah,comments are great. It is very helpful in socializing in blogosphere. Also useful in building links. Fight spam, not blogs.
Thanks
Good security tips, i will bear these in mind when moving my Ansel Adams blog across to wordpress.org in the future…
Yes, sometimes many blogger use the easy way to build up the website like use Fantastico and do not think in future for upgrade their website.
I hope you do not mind if I posted a link on digg
@twiter – Not at all, please do. Will appreciate it very much
Sometimes I do not upgrade my wordpress because its time consuming but our tech advice us to use always the latest word press installation to avoid being hacked. By the way, my site was hacked 2 times already and it is very sad.
Hey James
Would love to see more ellaboration on your comment, maybe I could stand corrected.
This is the beauty of blogging, you get to express yourself even if its through commenting
Disagreement and constructive critisims are most welcome – makes for a healthy blog in an active community
BTW you submited the same comment on the themes and I felt it was probably by mistake and therefore have not aproved it yet (not deleted – still pending) – if its correctly placed let me know and if you could expand on it will appreciate it and will aprove it.
Hi and thanks for the compliment, glad you like the post
Look forward to be regular contact and networking with you.