Last week I posted that I was having problems upgrading or updating WordPress core and plugins.  Every attempt resulted in the message – “Download failed. Could not create Temporary file”.  The only solution at the time was to change permissions on wp-content to 0777 and then to revert to 0755 after.

I have finally found a definitive answer that does not require changing permissions or ownerships.  or does it compromise the security of the server.

The solution is quite simple.  All that is required is to add the following two lines to the wp-config.php file.

define('WP_TEMP_DIR', ini_get('upload_tmp_dir'));
putenv('TMPDIR=' . ini_get('upload_tmp_dir'));

As I said, I run several sites, so it was a matter of updating each config file.  I then attempted a core upgrade and a plugin upgrade on each.  Success!  No more meddling with directory permissions.

So, if anyone out there is having the same problem – there is the answer.

I am being driven demented at the moment.

There is a web site that I used to subscribe to via RSS, though I can’t see any mention of it in my current feeds (and I have a couple of hundred of them).

The problem is that either the site has been hacked, or the owner has inadvertently uploaded a virus.  Either way, I am getting a loud alert from my anti-virus software every few minutes to say that I am attempting to connect to an infected site.

I have tried e-mailing the webmaster, but either he doesn’t read his mails very often, or I have the wrong address.  Leastwise, I have had no response; just more alerts.

There is a moral to this, of course.

If you do maintain a website, it is no harm to have a visit once or twice a day to check for infection.

An infected site is at worst very dangerous and at best, a bloody nuisance.

Having tried several anti-virus packages over the years, I have settled with Avast!.  It normally sits on my taskbar quietly monitoring things and I generally forget about it.  The only time I remember it’s there is when I do a complete scan, or when it makes me jump with a loud advice that it has just updated itself.

Every couple of months, a banner flashes at the bottom of the screen to warn me that an infected mail has arrived.  Sirens blare, and I have the opportunity to delete the mail, which I do.

Yesterday, it went off twice, which is very unusual.  Normally I could expect five or six alerts in a full year, so two in one day was exceptional.

So far today, I have had nine infected mails.  Yes – nine.

Is there a new flood of the damn things on the Internet?

Or have I just been chosen as the lucky recipient of this month’s batch?