Today’s guest blog post was written by Anil Parmar, the co-founder of Glorywebs, a full-service WordPress agency that specializes in WordPress development and design as well as digital marketing. Anil develops themes and plugins for technical and non-technical users alike. Follow him on Twitter @abparmar99 & say, “Hi!”
WordPress security threats are on the rise. In some cases, hackers can gain control over WordPress sites. Now, the question arises, how can you secure your WordPress sites?
A major cause of security breaches in WordPress sites is outdated plugins and themes. These elements of a site can be particularly vulnerable to exploitation, and hackers are well aware of this. If a plugin hasn’t been updated during the past 2 years, it is categorized as an abandoned, or outdated plugin. Moreover, it may pose compatibility issues with WordPress.
I’ve listed 60 abandoned WordPress plugins that you should refrain from installing on your WordPress sites. If you’re currently using any of these plugins, you should look at alternatives. Fortunately, there are tens of thousands of plugins for WordPress and, in many cases, you’ll find a great alternative. In other cases, an outdated plugin’s functionality may already be replaced by a core WordPress function. In either case, be sure to keep your WordPress plugins and themes updated!
Limit Login Attempts
Limit Login Attempts reduced the login attempts to a definite number. This was applicable for both normal login and authorized cookies. The last update was issued 5 years ago.
Exclude Pages
This was simply used to include or exclude pages from the page navigation bar. With advancement in WordPress coding, this plugin lost the utility 5 years ago.
SEO Friendly Images
This plugin was used to update the ALT and TITLE attributes of an image. The author has not updated SEO Friendly Images for the past 3 years.
Plugin Activation Status
The plugin doesn’t find utility anymore. It used to determine the plugins that are not active on your WordPress sites. It was last updated 2 years ago.
Rus-To-Lat
As evident by the name, this plugin used to convert Russian characters to Latin characters. Now, this plugin has been replaced by Cyr-To-Lat.
Since the emergence of latest social sharing plugins, the Facebook plugin doesn’t fit into the context anymore. It has not been updated for the past 3 years.
Quick Adsense
Once a popular ad insertion plugin, Quick Adsense is not active anymore. The last update was witnessed 4 years ago.
P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler)
P3 plugin from GoDaddy.com used to analyze the effect of installed plugins on the site performance and loading time. There has been no update since 2 years.
Exec-PHP
This plugin was responsible for executing the PHP code in the blog posts, pages, etc. Due to evolution in the WordPress technology, the utility became insignificant.
MCE Table Buttons
MCE Table Buttons was rendered useless when WordPress integrated the table creation option in the visual editor. There has been no update since 3 years.
Title Remover
The plugin was used to manage the visibility of the post title. WordPress found the negligible usage of this plugin and hence, it vanished into the thin air.
Link Manager
The last update for this plugin came out 5 years ago. Now, it finds no utility in the WordPress. The user had the privilege of managing the URL links.
Ultimate TinyMCE
This plugin enhanced the editing options in the visual editor. But now, the plugin is no longer functional. Even the developers recommend ditching it.
Revision Control
The plugin offered freedom to the administrator to manage the number of revisions allowed for the posts and pages. The support is completely scrapped now.
AJAX Thumbnail Rebuild
This plugin allowed the user to edit the thumbnails on their site. The last update was released 3 years ago. The plugin is not suitable for use anymore.
WP Easy Columns
WP Easy Columns was effective in managing the layout of the WordPress sites. The columns could be altered as per user’s convenience. The plugin was last updated 3 years ago.
Platinum SEO Pack
This was an attempt to optimize WordPress sites for search engines. Due to more effective SEO plugins, and no plugin update for the last four years, this plugin is useless now.
Acunetix WP Security
The plugin was meant to upgrade the security levels of WordPress sites. But if you install it now, your site will be prone to security threats. There is no update since the last 2 years.
PuSHPress
The plugin was meant to deliver updates to the PubSubHubbub subscribers. The features of the plugin revolved around the PuSH. Now, it is of no use to anybody.
WordPress HTTPS (SSL)
As evident by the name, this was used to integrate SSL certificate in the WordPress sites. The last update was released 4 years ago.
Category Order
Category Order was last updated 9 years ago. The basic function of the plugin was to change the order of the categories. Now, you can understand why this plugin is not active anymore!
Cyr-To-Lat
The advent of language conversion plugins was enough to outcast this plugin from the WordPress repository. The last update was released around 6 years ago.
Simple Local Avatars
This plugin was used to change the avatars of various profiles associated with the WordPress sites. It had been 4 years since this plugin got an update.
Post-Plugin Library
The plugin was used to provide a short link code for the published posts. This plugin has been gathering dust for 9 years, the last time it was updated.
Ultimate Google Analytics
As suggested by the name, this linked Google Analytics account with the WordPress site. It tracked all the activities by inserting the Javascript code to every page of the site.
WP Robots Txt
The WP Robots Txt plugin was invented to enhance the functionality of existing robots.txt file. As of now, it is not functional anymore.
Google XML Sitemap for Videos
This plugin focused on generating an XML Sitemap for all the video content on the WordPress site. This aided in the ranking of the videos on search engines. The plugin is not active since the past 5 years.
Testimonials by WooThemes
The plugin is used to embed testimonials section on WordPress sites. The plugin has not been updated since 2 years and hence, it is vulnerable to the security threats.
Ktai Style
To enhance the loading speed on mobile phones, Ktai Style emphasized on producing lightweight pages. The plugin is not in use anymore.
.html on Pages
The simple duty of this plugin was to add .html extension to the permalinks of the WordPress site. The last update was issued 8 years ago.
WP SMTP
This plugin focused on delivering emails via SMTP rather than PHP mail() function. However, the plugin is not functional anymore. The last update was released 3 years ago.
Login Logo
Login Logo was responsible for embedding a logo on the login screen. This plugin didn’t find any dire necessity and hence, it is not effective at this moment.
Get the Image
The simple concept of this plugin was to insert images in WordPress sites. It could be thumbnails, slider, gallery, featured image, and so on.
Configure SMTP
The sole responsibility of this plugin was to configure SMTP mailing in WordPress sites. However, the plugin lost its utility 6 years ago.
Link Juice Keeper
The plugin used to redirect the incoming links to the existing pages on the WordPress sites to eliminate the occurrence of 404 error. The plugin has been dysfunctional for the past 6 years.
Sociable
The Sociable plugin was beneficial in boosting the social presence of WordPress sites. But this plugin is not social anymore! It has not been updated for 4 years.
WP-Table Reloaded
This plugin was used to create tables in the WordPress editor area. This plugin has been officially replaced by TablePress.
WP Clean Up
This plugin aimed at weeding out the garbage, such as spam comments, from the WordPress accounts. Now, it is not responsible for all the unnecessary things in the WordPress database.
Custom Post Template
As the name suggests, this plugin was used to customize the template for particular posts. But this awesome plugin is not in use anymore.
WP Htaccess Editor
The plugin provided access to htaccess file without going through the traditional FTP client route. Since the past 3 years, there is not a single update for this plugin.
Uber Login Logo
The fundamental usage of the plugin was to configure the WordPress login page. With the passage of time, this plugin lost the pace.
WooCommerce Shortcodes
The plugin was aimed to add shortcodes to enhance the e-commerce functionality. Due to development in technology, this plugin was rendered useless.
Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin
To confirm the identity of the users, this plugin provided a checkbox for the captcha. This was to identify the spammers. This plugin has been dysfunctional for the last 3 years.
Jquery Accordion Menu Widget
This plugin was used to create vertical menu dropdown lists, along with multiple functions associated with it. With the rapid development in WordPress coding, this plugin lost the charm.
Verify Google Webmaster Tools
This was used to link the Google Webmaster account with the WordPress account. The user had to insert the verification meta tag, and that’s it.
WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping Module
The sole purpose of this plugin was to determine the shipping rate based on the cart price of the product. Both the variables were dependent on each other.
SoundCloud Shortcode
This plugin was used to insert SoundCloud shortcodes in the WordPress sites. SoundCloud Shortcode converted the codes to player icons.
DB Cache Reloaded Fix
To clear the junk from the WordPress database, this plugin proved immensely beneficial. But unfortunately, it doesn’t function now.
HeadSpace2 SEO
With HeadSpace2 SEO, the users can configure the meta data for better search engine rankings. The last update was issued 5 years ago.
Clone Posts
The straightforward agenda of Clone Posts plugin was cloning posts on WordPress sites. The plugin lost its utility and hence, there are no updates available now.
Menu Social Icons
The purpose of this plugin was to change social media sites links to attractive icons. The plugin is not active anymore, and this is evident from the absence of updates since the past 2 years.
Font Awesome Icons
This plugin had 361 font icons. The text in the WordPress site could be made attractive using these font icons. The last update was available 4 years ago.
WP Page Numbers
Instead of mentioning “Next” and “Previous” options, the users can actually number the pages for easy navigation. The developers stopped updating the plugin 8 years ago.
WP PageNavi Style
The aim of this plugin was to simplify the navigation across various pages on the WordPress sites. The last update was issued 3 years ago.
WP Google Analytics
This plugin was used to synchronize your WordPress site with Google Analytics for effective tracking of the activities. The last update was available 3 years ago.
Google XML Sitemap for Images
For indexation of image URLs in Google, Bing, and other search engines, this plugin was used by the users. It had been 5 years since the last update.
Google XML Sitemaps v3 for qTranslate
The name seems to be daunting but the utility was a simple one, to create an XML sitemap for better indexation. The updates stopped coming 3 years ago.
jQuery Lightbox For Native Galleries
This plugin was useful in displaying the full-size images on the page itself. This was beneficial in enhancing user engagement.
Yoast Breadcrumbs
The breadcrumbs were effective in improving the search engine rankings. The plugin aimed at imparting breadcrumb navigation. But the developer stopped updating it 8 years ago.
flickrRSS
The plugin was a bridge between Flickr and WordPress sites. It assisted in displaying Flickr photos on the WordPress sites. The plugin has been shelved 3 years ago.
The Bottom Line
In life, you always have the options. This is true for WordPress as well! There are numerous plugins that perform better than these outdated ones. Use up-to-date plugins, and you’ll have a more secure WordPress site.
