This plugin makes my site so slow!

@cking

Is the Schedule Database Backups setting in the Database Backups section of the iTSec plugin Settings page enabled ?

Is the File Change Detection setting enabled ?

Is your website using Apache web server ? If so what version ?

Please post the content of your .htaccess file while obscuring any sensitive info.

dwinden

Hi Dwinden,

I first deactivated and waited for one day and reactivated again but got the same issue. So, I decided to uninstall this plugin and have no chance to check the settings.

Do you have a documentation that you can refer me to so I can check the correct settings? I like the plugin and would like to reinstall it if I could get it work without slowing down my site.

Thanks,
CKing

@cking,

Allthough iThemes is doing its best to position this plugin as a one-size-fits-all and one-click security solution in reality it needs to be tailored to suit your website needs.

That said iThemes did produce a video that runs through all the recommended iTSec Pro settings. Watch and learn from this video here.

A couple of notes regarding this iTSec Pro video:

• iTSec Pro = Free iTSec plugin + 10 extra features.
• The video was created in Oct 2015. This means what’s being demonstrated in this video is done using an older iTSec Pro release.
• As of release 5.2.0 (released in Jan 2016) the Security Status metabox on the plugin Dashboard page has been removed. It will be replaced by a better tool in the next major release (probably 6.0).
  So this explains why in the video the Security Status metabox is still present.
  If you prefer to run the latest plugin release that still includes the Security Status metabox you should download and install the 5.1.1 release.
• You will probably notice some slight differences on some pages which are due to the fact that the video was recorded while working on a WordPress env that runs on the Nginx web server. Which is odd because it would make much more sense to record such a video while using a WordPress env that runs on the Apache web server.
  Note these ui differences will not show if you are also running WordPress while using the Nginx web server.

Anyway keep in mind that the Schedule Database Backups and File Change Detection settings are the 2 (bulk process) features that have most impact on performance and memory usage.
How much impact will depend on the size of your site and database.
Considering your symptom (site slow or occasionally broken) these 2 options would be the first candidates to disable if enabled (default disabled).

dwinden

Hi dwinden,
Thanks for your input.

I re-installed and and activated the plugin and my site is working without being slowed down. I am just using the default settings and the “Themes Brute Force Protection Network” option.

I assume that there was an issue with my previous settings.

Thanks for the help,
CKing

@cking

I’m glad to hear re-installing the plugin solved the issue.

By default the Schedule Database Backups and File Change Detection settings are disabled.

As the issue seems to be solved please mark this topic as ‘resolved’.

dwinden

Thank you!

Cheers,
CKing