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Tidy Repo

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Free Plugin Protector

This plugin no longer exists, and it's not maintained. We recommend finding a suitable replacement. If you are an old user, try reaching out to authors via social media.

Please read! This plugin is no longer available for download in the WordPress plugin repository. We suggest finding a similar, alternative plugin. We don't know the reason why the plugin is no longer available. Sometimes the author requests the removal, and sometimes it's removed by the repo administrators.

Plugin Protector

Plugin Author: Joshua Vandercar

Jay Hoffmann

January 8, 2014 (modified on July 3, 2018)

Admin

My main goal at Tidy Repo is to protect you from all the problems that plugins can cause. But what can protect your plugins from you? Plugin Protector, that’s what.

What’s It Do?

Plugin protector adds a simple menu to your admin screen which allows you to add “protection” to any of the plugins you have installed, and an accompanying notice. If a user tries to update or delete any plugins, they will be greeted with the customs notice and will have to manually override it to protect these options.

This can be especially useful if you have a WordPress install with multiple admins, or even if you’re just managing a few different client sites and you find it hard to keep track of what plugins truly need to be protected. It’s simple and easy enough to override, so it creates an extra level of awareness without too much friction.

How’s It Work?

After you install the plugin, go to Plugins -> Protection. This page will have a list of all of the plugins installed on your site, activated or deactivated. Next to each plugin title is a checkbox labeled “Protected.” Check this box next to any plugin and protection will be turned on for this plugin. Next to that, you’ll see a text box labeled “Notice.” In this box type in a custom notice, you want to be displayed to users trying to delete or update the plugin.

Add a notice to any plugin

Add a notice to any plugin

When any user on the site goes to update or delete a plugin that has been marked as protected, they will be greeted with a short warning. This will notify users that the plugin has been marked as protected. If you entered a custom notice, this will also be displayed. In order to continue updating a plugin, users will have to click on a link. To delete a plugin, they will simply have to confirm the deletion. So, this plugin does not outright prevent the altering of “protected” plugins, it simply warns administrators about its status.

You'll see that notice when you go to delete or update the plugin

You’ll see that notice when you go to delete or update the plugin

There will also be a new column in the main Plugins list, which will mark each plugin as either “Protected” or “Not Protected” for a quick check.

There are no other options, everything else is done automatically.

Costs, Caveats, Etc.

Plugin Protector is free and hopefully at the beginning of its development because I think it can be very useful. I would like to see the protection notice displayed upon activation and deactivation of plugins, not just updating and deleting. Another WordPress user also suggested an optional password protection. This might be helpful too.

If you have any problems with the plugin or want to suggest a new feature, the support forums are the best place to go.

Resources

Support Forums
Plugin Documentation