Leaves performance-killing, unremovable garbage in WP database if uninstalled

  • synthezoid

    (@synthezoid)


    10 months ago

    I checked out this plugin and uninstalled it (fully deleted from plugins page) pretty quickly, and wound up going with a different caching plugin.

    Ever since then, my Site Health has reported serious performance problems due to autoloaded options, notably one single huge one: “w3tc_pagespeed_data_[mysitename]”.

    Trying to find a way delete this has so far cost me AN ENTIRE DAY OF MY LIFE and I still haven’t figured out how to get rid of it! Even reinstalling W3TC and completely turning off the pagespeed feature and then deleting again doesn’t do it.

    Developers, how about cleaning up after your plugin instead of sloppily and carelessly doing this to users? When I delete your plugin, I WANT IT GONE, I don’t want you permanently leaving autoload garbage that I can’t figure out how to get rid of in my database to slow down my site and cause unfixable site health errors!

    • This topic was modified 10 months ago by synthezoid.
Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Plugin Contributor Marko Vasiljevic

    (@vmarko)

    Hello @synthezoid

    First of all, I am sorry about the experience you’ve had with the W3 Total Cache. Also, I am sorry for the late reply as I wanted to consult with the team on this.
    “w3tc_pagespeed_data_[mysitename]” should not be autoloaded. And I’ve created a ticket for this in our GitHub repo, so thank you for taking the time to report this.

    In many cases, if you delete a plugin, the residual entries left over in the table still load without any use. Having said that, plugins often add entries in the tables, however, they will not delete the entries when you deactivate and delete them. This will help the plugin to restore the settings when you reinstall it. However, if you are not reinstalling the plugin anymore, table entries are redundant
    There are a couple of ways to do this, and you can find the most common steps below:

    • Login to your hosting account and then go to cPanel section. Most hosting companies offer integrated cPanel so that you do not need to login again. Otherwise, you may need to login to your cPanel separately.
    • Search phpMyAdmin app in cPanel and open it. It will show all databases on your hosting account and locate the database used on the site you want to cleanup.
    • Expand the required database and click on the wp_options table to view its content.
    • Select the SQL tab and add this syntax and click Go

    Click on delete “w3tc_pagespeed_data_[mysitename]” and confirm. You can delete the other entries associated with the W3TC as well

    You can also use the plugin to do this and delete options

    Thank you again for reporting this and we have a ticket in our GitHub repo that will address this and remove residual entries once the plugin is deleted.

    Once again I am sorry about the bad experience you have had after removing W3TC. I hope that in the future you will give W3 Total Cache another chance and we can hopefully improve the review together.

    Thanks!

    Plugin Contributor Marko Vasiljevic

    (@vmarko)

    Hello @synthezoid

    W3 Total Cache version 2.7.0 was recently released that includes a fix that sets the “auto-load” flag for “w3tc_pagespeed_data_[mysitename]” option to false. As such updating to this version and re-analyzing your site should address your concern with that data auto-loading both with or without the plugin active/installed
    Additionally, we have plans to introduce an exit journey survey to collect feedback on plugin deactivation that will include a prompt for deleting plugin data.
    We are always working on improving the plugin and the user experience.

    Thanks!

    in all my years as a webmaster W3 Total Cache? is possibly the worst ever plugin I have ever encountered~> how locate and remove all the rubbish https://jdmdigital.co/support/wordpress/w3-total-cache-total-removal/

    • This reply was modified 6 months, 1 week ago by essene1618.

    @vmarko can you please re-share the syntax you wrote in these instructions above?

    Select the SQL tab and add?this syntax?and click Go

    I am running into the same problem and need to get these tables deleted. It seems the syntax was removed. Thanks!

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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