How to Disable RSS Feeds in WordPress

Do you want to disable RSS feeds on your WordPress site? RSS feeds allow users to subscribe to your blog posts. However when building small static websites, you may want to turn off the RSS feeds. By default, there is no option to remove RSS feeds in WordPress. In this article, we will show you how to disable RSS feeds in WordPress.

Method 1: Disable RSS Feeds Using a Plugin

This method is easier and is recommended for beginners.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Disable Feeds plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

The plugin works out of the box and it will start redirecting users to your website when they request an RSS feed.

There are a few settings available for the plugin. You need to visit Settings » Reading page to configure them.

By default, the plugin will try to redirect users to related content on your site when they request a feed. For example, users requesting a category feed will be redirected to category page. Users trying to access custom post type RSS feed will be redirected to the custom post type archive.

You can change this behavior and show users a 404 error page.

You can also select not to disable the global RSS feed and comments feed. This will allow users to still subscribe to your RSS feed, but there will be no individual category, author, or post comment feeds.

Don’t forget to click on the save changes button to store your settings.

Method 2: Manually Disable RSS Feeds in WordPress

This method requires you edit WordPress files. You can use this method if you are comfortable pasting snippets from web into WordPress.

Simply add this code to your theme’s functions.php file or a site-specific plugin.

function wpb_disable_feed() {
wp_die( __('No feed available,please visit our <a href="'. get_bloginfo('url') .'">homepage</a>!') );
}

add_action('do_feed', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_rdf', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_rss', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_rss2', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_atom', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_rss2_comments', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);
add_action('do_feed_atom_comments', 'wpb_disable_feed', 1);

This code simply returns an error page when someone requests an RSS feed.

We hope this article helped you learn how to disable RSS feeds in WordPress. You may also want to see our list of 15 most annoying things about WordPress and how to fix them.

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How to Disable Plugin Updates in WordPress and Why You Shouldn’t

Recently, one of our readers asked if it was possible to disable plugin updates in WordPress? Plugin updates can be disabled in WordPress, but there is no good reason to do that. In this article, we will show you how to disable plugin updates in WordPress. We will also discuss why you shouldn’t do that and what could be the consequences of doing so.

Why You Shouldn’t Disable Plugin Updates in WordPress?

Many WordPress users think that plugin updates can break their site. If you are using the best WordPress plugins with a standard compliant WordPress theme, then chances of an upgrade breaking your site are very low.

See our beginner’s guide on how to choose the best WordPress plugins for your site. For themes, you may want to see our checklist of 9 things you should consider when selecting the perfect WordPress theme.

Plugin updates not only offer new features, they also patch security vulnerabilities, improve performance, and fix compatibility issues with latest or upcoming versions of WordPress.

By not updating plugins, you are intentionally compromising security and stability of your WordPress site.

Some developers want to disable plugin updates on clients sites to prevent them from breaking their websites. It is not a good reason in most cases because most client relationships don’t last forever. In that case you hand your clients a website susceptible to vulnerabilities in future.

We believe it’s simply better to educate your clients.

If you still must disable plugin updates on your site, then here is how you would do that.

Disable All Plugin Updates in WordPress

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Easy Updates Manager plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Dashboard » Update Options to manage plugin settings.

Click on the ‘General’ tab and scroll down to ‘All Plugin Updates’ option. Click on ‘Disabled’ to turn off all plugin updates.

Don’t forget to click on the save changes button to store your settings.

Selectively Disable Updates for Specific Plugins in WordPress

You can also selectively disable updates for some WordPress plugins. This is a little better option than disabling all plugin updates.

You need to visit Dashboard » Update Options page and click on the ‘Plugins’ tab. There you will see a list of all installed plugins on your WordPress site.

You can just click on ‘Disallow Updates’ below a plugin to disable updates for that specific plugin.

Easy Updates Manager allows you to manage all WordPress updates including core, plugin, theme, and translation updates. See our guide on how to better manage automatic WordPress updates for detailed instructions.

We hope this article helped you learn how to disable plugin updates in WordPress and why you shouldn’t do that. You may also want to see our guide on how to hide unnecessary items from WordPress admin with Adminimize.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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How to Disable Automatic Update Email Notification in WordPress

Do you want to disable automatic update email notification in WordPress? By default, WordPress sends an email notification to inform you that your WordPress site is updated after security updates. Recently one of our readers asked if there is an easy way to disable that. In this article, we will show you how to easily disable automatic update email notification in WordPress.

About Automatic Updates in WordPress

WordPress is an open source software which is maintained by a community of developers. It is regularly updated to fix security issues, bugs, and to add new features.

This is why you should always use the latest version of WordPress to make sure that your website is safe and up to date.

WordPress automatically installs minor updates as soon as they are available. After the update, your WordPress site sends a notification to the WordPress admin email address.

The purpose of this email notification is just to inform you that your WordPress site is updated.

If you maintain multiple WordPress sites, then you will get an email from each website. This can be a bit annoying.

Let’s see how to easily turn off the automatic update email notification in WordPress.

Method 1: Disable Automatic Update Email Notification Using Plugin

This method is simpler and does not require you to add any code to your WordPress site.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Disable WordPress Core Update Email. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

The plugin works out of the box, and there are no settings for you to configure.

Upon activation, it simply disables email notification sent after WordPress automatic update.

Method 2: Disable Automatic Update Email Notification Using Code

This method requires you to add code to your WordPress files. If you haven’t done this before, then take a look at our beginner’s guide on pasting snippets from web into WordPress.

You will need to add this code to your theme’s functions.php file or a site-specific plugin.

add_filter( 'auto_core_update_send_email', 'wpb_stop_auto_update_emails', 10, 4 );
 
function wpb_stop_update_emails( $send, $type, $core_update, $result ) {
if ( ! empty( $type ) && $type == 'success' ) {
return false;
}
return true;
}

This code simply adds a filter to disable email notification after automatic core update.

Managing Notifications and Updates in WordPress

By default, WordPress does not allow you to automatically install updates. Many site owners find it a bit annoying to update themes and plugins, especially if they maintain multiple WordPress sites.

Luckily, there are plugins that allow you to more efficiently manage WordPress updates. For detailed instructions see our guide on how to better manage automatic WordPress updates.

Similarly, WordPress by default has no unified interface to manage notification emails. It may not even send email notifications and you wouldn’t notice it.

There are plugins that allow you to manage and control emails sent by WordPress. You can even customize default WordPress emails. For detailed instructions take a look at our guide on how to add better custom notifications in WordPress.

That’s all, we hope this article helped you learn how to disable automatic update email notification in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on 24 must have WordPress plugins for business websites.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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