johncsnider

OK I’m updated to the latest version of WordPress and my various plug-ins.

But I’m still getting loads of spam and lots of fraudulent “new user” registrations.

I did the scan with sitecheck and it said nothing found.

Hmmm…okay, I deleted everything via FTP. Reinstalled. Same problem.

Actually, it IS 8.8.10.8. It was only after upgrading to this version that the problem began. I haven’t 100% established a cause-effect relationship, but before the upgrade I did not have this problem. ??

OK, I went to that page and I thought I had everything set up properly. Now the feed validator gives me this message:

****

Sorry

This feed does not validate.

line 5697, column 267: XML parsing error: <unknown>:5697:267: not well-formed (invalid token) [help]

… oubt. Also worth a listen is her I Can&[…]</itunes:subtitle>
^
In addition, interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations.

line 1869, column 273: Encode “&” and “<” in plain text using hexadecimal character references. [help]

… osses are a universal symbol for th[…]</itunes:subtitle>
^
line 1885, column 0: Encode “&” and “<” in plain text using hexadecimal character references. [help]

</itunes:summary>

Oh, it’s https://www.americanfreethought.com

Hi Tim,

The feed is https://www.americanfreethought.com/wordpress/?feed=podcast

Thanks,
John

Changed my admin password, made an SQL backup.

Now, if I reinstall wordpress, is that just a matter of uploading the files I just downloaded an unzipped, then making sure the wp-config.php has all the IDs and passwords? Do any other files need to be modified for this to work?

OK, I did it and now I can pull up my site.

What’s the next thing I need to do? Change my password?

Got it. Now…what’s the deal with the code you said to copy for the four Authentication keys lines? What is that stuff?

alism,

OK, I’ve downloaded and unzipped WP2.8.4 on my laptop. I’ve also saved the corrupted file to my laptop. Now, in the files I downloaded, there’s no “wp-config.php” but there is something called “wp-config-sample.php.” Is that the right file?

Thanks,
John

P.S. I was able to open the wp-config.php via my FTP Explorer, and there are a lot of spam links and other gobbledygook. Trouble is, I don’t know what to delete, what to keep, and what to change. What a mess.

What do I do if I can’t log in? Visiting the site yields the error I first listed. So if I can’t log in as admin how do I even begin to fix the problem?

Finally, let me say that I’m no coder. I’m really just a user of WordPress, and lately it seems like it’s waaay too easy to get hacked. I already reinstalled WordPress 2.8.4 from the ground up and changed my password, but it still (apparently) didn’t fix the problem.

I wouldn’t know what to look for if I did examine it. What would I be looking for?

Hey, I think it worked! AT least, I was able to download the tool, install it, browse the user list, and delete the other user who wasn’t me.

Is there anything else I need to do at this point to make sure things are secure?

Thanks!

Sorry can you provide more detail on this? I am not a coder, so if you have the patience, can you walk me through it step by step?