Remove WF from Database

@robinintexas

I’ve tried that on the other site with Wordfence installed that I want to get rid of, didn’t work. I don’t know why WP database cleaner/manager won’t work with Wordfence leftovers. Other entries can be deleted easily, just Wordfence leftovers are very stubborn.

So, for those who want to try Wordfence, make sure you select the option;

Delete Wordfence tables and data on deactivation?

This way, if you want to get rid of it later on, there will be no leftovers when it is deactivated or deleted.

@robinintexas
@michael Wiener
If possible, the BEST option is to get rid of unneeded plugins, which ultimately will add memory usage to your WP installation. So, if you have a control panel for your hosting, try using phpmyadmin, which is able to force delete those leftovers.
If such a tool is unavailable for any reason and wp-optimize usage is the only way out, remember to deactivate these cleaning plugins after use, to alleviate the performance of your entire WordPress installation. In brief: activate it, use it, deactivate it till next time. ??

Today the same problem happened to me. A Wordfence update went wrong. I immediately got 500 server error messages as I tried to open posts. And I couldn’t open Dashboard items anymoree. Constant server error 500. I arranged placing a backup, but this didn’t work. I followed the directions as mentioned above: Word tables Fence removed in the DB. Nothing helps. Very stressfull! Who can help me? the site with the problems https://www.kzod.nl.

This is ridiculous. A coworker installed your plugin after they’re blog was hacked. And believe it or not, I’ve spent more time removing what this plugin left behind, than what the hackers did.

And if you wondering… No, the plugin didn’t find a thing. I did though.

And it looks like the most recent version has one more table than is mentioned above.

wp_wfBadLeechers
wp_wfBlocks
wp_wfBlocksAdv
wp_wfConfig
wp_wfCrawlers
wp_wfFileMods
wp_wfHits
wp_wfHoover
wp_wfIssues
wp_wfLeechers
wp_wfLockedOut
wp_wfLocs
wp_wfLogins
wp_wfNet404s
wp_wfReverseCache
wp_wfScanners
wp_wfStatus
wp_wfThrottleLog
wp_wfVulnScanners

If your database looks like mine, ie. same tables and prefix. Run this query in phpmyadmin.

drop table wp_wfBadLeechers, wp_wfBlocks, wp_wfBlocksAdv, wp_wfConfig, wp_wfCrawlers, wp_wfFileMods, wp_wfHits, wp_wfHoover, wp_wfIssues, wp_wfLeechers, wp_wfLockedOut, wp_wfLocs, wp_wfLogins, wp_wfNet404s, wp_wfReverseCache, wp_wfScanners, wp_wfStatus, wp_wfThrottleLog, wp_wfVulnScanners

Folks please please read this before you add to this thread:

As many posters have mentioned there is an option at the bottom of the Wordfence ‘options’ page titled:

Delete Wordfence tables and data on deactivation?

Check this and then hit save. Then deactivate Wordfence. All the tables we create will be removed including any other data we add.

If you want to optimize Wordfence for speed, simply disable Live traffic. That will reduce database load on smaller web servers and speed up your site.

We run Wordfence with full live traffic and all the trimmings on all our own production sites without any performance issues.

Again: You do not need phpmyadmin to remove Wordfence data. It’s already built in. You can also use this technique to reset Wordfence to defaults or simply clean up the tables. Check the box to remove Wordfence data, then disable and reenable the plugin and you have a clean Wordfence database.

Regards,

Mark.