As I have promised in a previous post here, I’d like to share with you that useful little plugin that allowed me to automatically update/upgrade my WordPress blog version.  Thanks for being patient.  I intentionally wanted to post this at the end of the month.

OK, I used: Wordpress Instant Upgarde by Zironoa .

Here’s a little blurb from their homepage:

How does it work?
The InstantUpgrade plugin downloads the latest WordPress version from the WordPress server and unpacks it at your server. In the next step, it deletes all of your old WordPress files (except wp-content/ and wp-config.php) and puts the new files into your WordPress directory. Finally, it runs the database upgrade script. That procedure is exactly what the official guide proposes, only 30 times faster and with you leaning back.

Is it safe to use?
Yes. The plugin interfaces are very intuitive, everything is well explained. Before the upgrade process, comprehensive checks are performed to ensure that nothing can be broken. As for security: The plugin cannot do anything that you or your webserver couldn’t do anyway. So, yes, it is safe to use. (However, bad things can *always* happen, so you should always have backups of your database and files.)

I encountered a few snags along the way, though. Snags like directory permissions (mostly writing privileges), but that was because I changed write privileges as my WordPress blog needed a little more security.  For standard WordPress installations though, the plugin install and activation was very smooth. 

Zirona noted that you should not use this plugin if you installed WordPress via Fantastico.  The only harm that may happen to you is that you cannot use Fantastico to update/upgrade your WordPress anymore.  You’d be using this plugin from thereon.  Well that’s all the harm it did me.

Suggestions:

• I would suggest that you install another WordPress blog to test the plugin first.  I have one that just sits there for this purpose.  So everytime a new plugin surfaces, and I believe is useful to me, I install it on that test WordPress site first.  Don’t worry about overcrowding your hosting account, hey most hosting accounts have the basic 5GB standard package anyway. 
• I would suggest that you BACK-UP your data first.  Everything …. texts, images, your database… hey you better backup your directory tree even through FTP.  I did.  Believe you me that backup is hard work… but definitely worth it!

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