Clean your closet.

In WordPress Themes by Gregg BanseLeave a Comment

Every time I look in my closet I see a couple of shirts I’ve been meaning to so something with. I never wear them. I don’t like the material of one – too scratchy. And the other was a mistake. The color just doesn’t appeal to me and I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought it. I’ve been looking at them for months thinking they need to go to the Salvation Army. They’re taking up room in my closet – not much but I do find myself sliding them out of the way more often than not. Time for them to go.

When i started working yesterday I saw in my email box a notice from a theme author about an update to a theme that I no longer use. It reminded me of the shirts. It’s sitting in my themes directory taking up space. On top of that, I do keep it updated even though I don’t use it. And every time I update it, I wonder if I should just get rid of it. The problem is I’m a packrat. I have a hard time making up my mind about getting rid of something that I MAY use at some point in the future. The reality is I probably never will. So this time, I deleted the theme from the server and from my local computer. I kept the original download just in case but the rest is gone.

One theme is all I really need anyhow. Having an old theme around just takes up file space and wastes my time because I have to keep it up to date. Not keeping it up to date is an invitation to be hacked – especially if it’s so old that it contains exploitable entry points like old versions of TimThumb. If you’re at all curious you can check your theme by using the TimThumb Vulnerability Scanner plugin.

 

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