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Picture your site, it has top-notch visuals, compelling content, enticing CTAs, and the crucial product or service to offer. You decide to look at it and you see that your site's malfunctioning. Here are a few things you should take first before attempting to fix your WordPress installation:

1. Scanning of Configuration Files (wp-config.php) - change define( 'WP_DEBUG', false ); to define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); in the wp-config.php file and refresh your site. It should display a stack of error codes. See if it tells you what the problem is.
2. Deactivate WordPress Plugins one by one and test to see if turning one off fixes the problem. If it doesn't turn it back on and repeat until you have been through the entire list.
3. Optimize and Repair Database - Go in to your cPanel and open up PHPMyAdmin, find your database, select all tables and optimize them. Select all tables again after the optimize is complete and select repair. Then reload the site and see if that fixes the problem.
4. Make sure your theme, plugins and WordPress Core are up to date. If they aren't then you should take a backup and update them to the latest versions.

Below are a few indepth things you need to know about identifying issues with your WordPress installation:

Plugins are often the root cause of issues on your WordPress website!

Should you add a plugin that carries harmful code or isn't well-structured, it might disrupt your WordPress site.

So, if a plugin is the offender, here's your guide to resolving WordPress problems:

Suppose you've recently added a plugin and it's causing your site to malfunction, simply deactivate it.

For this, access your WordPress control panel (https://yourdomain.com.au/wp-admin)

Turning off plugins from the control panel is a breeze. Simply go to Plugins > Installed Plugins on the left-hand menu. Deactivate the suspected plugin. If disabling a single plugin doesn't resolve the issue, try deactivating all of them to see if a plugin is the root cause.

Besides turning off the plugins, you could also attempt to update them(if updates are available) and check if it makes a difference.

If you're unable to access the control panel, you can sign in using FTP details or cPanel.

Once you're in, navigate to the wp-content directory.

Here, you'll find the plugins directory.

Access the directory and you'll find all the active plugins housed within.

Change the name of the directory you wish to deactivate. If you need to deactivate all of them simultaneously, rename the plugin directory.

Don't forget about your Theme being a potential issue

One possible culprit for your malfunctioning WordPress site could be an outdated theme. It's not uncommon for a WordPress site to go haywire when its themes aren't kept up-to-date.

Here's a cheerful guide on how to tackle such WordPress hiccups:

Firstly, revert to the basic WordPress theme.

After doing so, disable the theme you suspect is causing the glitch.

This method is akin to deactivating plugins via Dashboard, cPanel, or FTP login.

If dashboard access is a no-go, make your way to wp-content > Themes and give the problematic theme folder a new name.

Lastly, check for theme updates. If they exist, go ahead and update.

A few key things to remember with Managing a WordPress website:

1. Keep Plugin Installation to a Minimum - Overloading your site with a plethora of plugins could potentially disrupt your WordPress site. This is due to the fact that each plugin brings unique features to the table, all coded in their own unique way. Therefore, they might clash with your theme, other plugins, or even the core files of WordPress. Therefore, our advice would be to keep the number of plugins on your site to a minimum. This will not only save your site from crashing but also from lagging. Killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

2. Keep WordPress Up To Date - WordPress.com revealed that more than 40% of sites utilizing WordPress 6 or earlier are older than a year. They will also contain hundreds of vulnerability points. To overcome this, a simple yet potent strategy that works is, regularly updating your WordPress ensures your site's security. With each update, WordPress patches new vulnerabilities. Therefore, it's vital to keep it updated. In addition, an outdated WordPress might face compatibility challenges with other plugins, themes, PHP, and so on, potentially causing your site to crash. Consequently, it's advised to maintain your WordPress up to date At All Times.

3. Generate Regular Backups - Before updating your WordPress Core, Plugins or Themes or even making a significant modification, make a backup of your website.
4. Use a Staging site - Before deploying a major update live, try it out on a test environment. It can save you potentially hours of downtime or issues for your site visitors.

If all that fails, please contact our team via live chat or by submitting a ticket in the My Account area. One of our team will be able to help you, just be aware that there may be fee's involved in getting the issue resolved. Our team will advise you if this is the case before proceeding with the repair though.