Social Media 101

Artizon Digital | 503.577.1035

  • Home
  • Rick’s Tips
  • Social Media
    • Facebook
    • Google+
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube
  • WordPress
  • Content
  • Freebies
  • Index
  • Artizon Digital

How to Change Your WordPress Admin Username & Password – WP Security Tip

July 8, 2016 by Rick Bean | Rose City Commercial Real Estate 4 Comments

Admin-Username-Security-Risk-TipThe default WordPress username “admin” has been a security weakness for years. Increases in attacks on sites using admin as the username make changing the username mandatory for maintaining security. The plan of attack is simple: find WordPress sites using the default “admin” username and gain access by trying multiple passwords. Once in the front door, they inject a backdoor and create malware on site.

You don’t have to be a technical wizard to change your WordPress admin username. Here is how to do it and improve your WordPress site security in in the time takes to drink a cup of coffee without complex database changes or plugins. Watch the video or follow the instructions below:

Before you begin complete these simple steps and record the info for future use:

Selecting a New WordPress Admin Username and Password

Select Your new user name

Your username should be unique to you.
Attackers know these users names, so do not use any of these:
[wpcol_1quarter id=”” class=”” style=”color: #ff0000;”]admin or Admin
admin1
adm

[/wpcol_1quarter] [wpcol_1quarter id=”” class=”” style=”color: #ff0000;”]aaa
sysadmin
administrator

[/wpcol_1quarter] [wpcol_1quarter id=”” class=”” style=”color: #ff0000;”]user
test
qwerty

[/wpcol_1quarter] [wpcol_1quarter_end id=”” class=”” style=”color: #ff0000;”]manager
root
support

[/wpcol_1quarter_end]

Choose a New Password

2016: Upgrade your password to a passphrase. A passphrase is minimum of 16 characters. It can contain dictionary words and even be all lowercase letters according to Anthony T article author and founder of the online magazine UX Movement. Add complexity to your passphrase by adding a capital letter and a number. His example: design2Code4coffee.
Why Passphrases Are More User-Friendly Than Passwords – Smashing Magazine

The old advice of selecting a password that is at least eight characters long, uses a combination of upper case and lower case letters, numbers and symbols is not as good a bet as using a passphrase or a password generated by a password manager. Look to this article from WordPress.com Support for guidelines in selecting a strong WordPress password: Selecting a Strong Password

Two More Important “Pre-flight” Steps

Have a Second Email Address Ready

You will need another email address as no two users can have the same email address. It doesn’t have to be a “real” email address.

Backing Up Your Site is Recommended

This is always good practice when making changes or updates to your WordPress site. Contact your hosting provider if you need help with that.

Change Your WordPress Username and Password

  1. Login into WordPress
  2. In the Dashboard menu go to Users and select Add New.
  3. Fill out the add new user form.
  4. Use the second email address you have selected. You can change it later.WordPress will verify the strength of your new password as strong if it meets the requirements.
  5. Select Administrator as the Role. This is important as you will need that level of access to delete the Admin user.
  6. Click Add New User.
  7. Logout of your site and login using your new user name and password.
  8. Select Users.
  9. Hover over the Admin row and click on the Delete link.
  10. STOP BEFORE YOU PUSH THAT DELETE BUTTON! Select Attribute all posts and links to your new username. Failing to do so will delete all your posts.
  11. Click Confirm Deletion
  12. Open your new user account and change the email address to the original.

There you have it in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee; you have changed your username and increased your site’s security. If you want help doing this call Artizon Digital. Need to get started with a WordPress website? Artizon Digital can get you going on that too.

Sue Surdam | Artizon Digital | WordPress Specialist and Social Media Solutions | 503-577-1035
Tweet
Share
Share
Pin

Filed Under: News, Rick's Tips, WordPress

Comments

  1. Donna Saliter says

    May 28, 2013 at 3:45 pm

    This is a great article and I’ve often wondered if my own username for my website is secure enough. If I was a gamer I’d change it to something really cool like Hoax Slayer col. Can you extrapolate on your point that the second email address doesn’t have to be a “real” address? I’m not sure exactly what to do.

    Thanks, Sue and Artizon Digital!

    Reply
    • Sue Surdam | Artizon Digital says

      May 28, 2013 at 4:38 pm

      Thanks for your kind words and I like your username idea very cool!

      A fake email address means just makeup one, like me@mymadeupemail.com. You just need to have something to fill in the email address of your new user, WordPress doesn’t care if it is a working address. You will be replacing it with your real email address after you have deleted the “admin” user.

      Reply
  2. Abdul Basit Ansari says

    March 28, 2017 at 4:09 am

    Hi, very good Article.
    Thanks for sharing with us

    Reply
    • Sue Surdam | Artizon Digital says

      April 22, 2017 at 10:49 pm

      You’re welcome. Took a quick visit to your website site and found lots of useful articles there.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

LOOKING FOR A SPECIFIC SM101 TIP OR TUTORIAL?

CONNECT YOUR WORDPRESS SITE TO SOCIAL MEDIA

Want to get your business connected, but short on time? We are experts in connecting your WordPress website to your social networks.

Need a new WordPress website or a update/redesign? We are always available to discuss your online needs.

Call us today: 503.577.1035

PARTNERS WE LOVE

A2 Hosting

Gravity Forms Plugin for WordPress

Categories

  • Connect to Your Social Media Network (4)
  • Creating and Posting Engaging Content (14)
  • Facebook (41)
  • Favorite Applications (1)
  • Featured (9)
  • Free Design Resources (15)
  • Google Search Stories Business Cards (1)
  • Google+ (9)
  • LinkedIn (3)
  • News (106)
  • Partners and Premium WordPress Products We Love (2)
  • Pinterest (1)
  • QR Codes (2)
  • Rick's Tips (19)
  • Rick's Top Ten (1)
  • SEO Search Engine Optimization (4)
  • Social Media News (2)
  • Social Media Sessions (6)
  • WordPress (22)
  • WordPress Plugins (7)
  • WordPress Websites (1)
  • YouTube (4)

Copyright© 2025 · Artizon Digital · 505-577-1035 · Designed by Artizon Digital