Like any piece of software you will have to update it at some point to enhance and protect your experience. The same goes for any WordPress site.
Failing to update and maintain your WordPress site can have catastrophic effects, such as making your site more vulnerable to cyber attacks. This makes it evermore important to update your WordPress Site to protect your site’s crucial data and content.
Versions WordPress Users Are Running On Their Site
This graph outlines the need to ensure you update your WordPress site. Almost all WordPress sites are running out of date PHP Versions.
PHP 7.4
The new PHP 7.4 update allows your site to reach lightning fast speeds and includes added security with uptime monitoring to patch any potential security breaches quickly. However, if you are still on the older version of PHP, 7.3 or below, then you are putting your site at a great risk. This is because the older versions of PHP are not monitored, therefore any security breaches will not be patched, unlike the new version of PHP 7.4.
However, as part of the PHP 7.4 update, WP Engine Hosting have decided to remove .htaccess files support, due to PHP 7.4 limiting the files value. The .htaccess is an Apache configuration file that a web admin can use to tell Apache how to interact with a website. It can control a number of things on a site-by-site basis, like how your URLs are formed or restricting access to a directory.
With the deprecation of these files it means you will have to migrate to a redirection plugin to maintain your URLs and redirect links that are on your WordPress site; this helps avoid unexpected and unwanted 404 errors on your site! This can be very complex to do.
At AWESEM Site Care we can take care of your site maintenance and the complexities of WordPress updates so you can focus on what matters most to you: your business.
Get in contact with us today to start your stress free Site Care package.
