Why WordPress Manual Installation is Better Than 1-Click Automatic Installation

Many hosting companies offer automatic script installation to help their users to create a ready to use and functional website. One-Click automatic script installer like Fantastico or SimpleScripts are the easiest and fastest way to install WordPress on a web server, especially for beginners. No need to create database manually, no need to upload any files, because everything is automatic.

But behind its simplicity lies several weaknesses due to the easy-guessed installation settings. Hackers can easily guess the database name, the database user and the database prefix because all the WordPress blogs that is installed using one-click auto installer like Fantastico would have the same database prefix, user and database name pattern. Here are some  reasons why you should avoid 1-click WordPress installation:

Outdated Version of WordPress
WordPress as the most popular blogging software should be updated as soon as possible whenever an update comes out. But an automatic installer usually installs an outdated version of WordPress. Many Fantastico users reported this problem. WordPress in SimpleScripts is updated more often, but still, we have to wait a few hours before the latest version of WordPress available in SimpleScripts.

Same Pattern of Database Name
Automatic installer like Fantastico and SimpleScripts creates the same pattern for the database name for all WordPress blogs installed using these installers. SimpleScripts would create wor1 or username_wor1 (username here is your hosting account username) and if I create another one it would be wor2 or username_wor2. Fanstastico does the same, the only difference is the database name is wrdp1 or username_wrdp1. Because this is a standard, so everyone knows about this. Some people who called themselves hackers can use this information to do something bad to your site.

Same Pattern of Database Username
Yes!, if you use Fantastico or SimpleScripts to install your WordPress, these tools will give you the same database username as the database name itself. This is absolutely a security risk. 

The Beginner's Guide to Install WordPress Manually in 5 Easy Steps

WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world and used on millions sites. It has user-friendly interface and flexible architecture that makes it easy for anyone to use and customize it to fit their needs. Ease of installation of WordPress is one of many features available, in fact WordPress is famous for its five-minute installation.

Many web hosting companies such as Bluehost or Hostgator provides an automatic installation service for WordPress through Fantastico or SimpleScripts. By using those utilities, you can easily install WordPress with just a few clicks of the mouse. However, I always recommend anyone to install WordPress manually because you can do that in just a few minutes with full control over the setup settings - Why WordPress manual installation is better than one-click auto method.

Things you need before Installing WordPress:

1. A Domain and Web Hosting Account
   We recommend Bluehost because they will give you a free domain for only $4.95/mo.
2. cPanel Access
   The web hosting company will send you the cPanel login details right after signing up. You can access the cPanel at yourdomain.com/cpanel
3. FTP Access
   You can create a new FTP username and password from cPanel, or you can just use the same login details as cPanel. Download FTP client here: https://filezilla-project.org/
4. WordPress
   The best content management system for websites and blogs. Download here: http://wordpress.org/download

Please follow the steps below to install WordPress manually:

Step 1:
Login to the cPanel for your hosting account. You can access your cPanel at http://yourdomain.com/cpanel (replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain name)
Enter your username and password > Click OK

Step 2:
Create a MySQL database and user for that database. The easiest way to create a database and add a user to that database is using MySQL Database Wizard.

Locate the MySQL Database Wizard icon and then click it > Type the desired name for the database > Click Next Step > Type desired user and password > Click Create User and you will get some kind of a report like this (make sure you copy it to your clipboard or write it down, we will need it later):

Added user "nelda_dbuser" with password "wrdp1234567".
User: nelda_dbuser
Database: nelda_dbwordpress