Title: Plugin auto-deleting itself Last modified: December 12, 2025 --- # Plugin auto-deleting itself * Resolved [robertolima](https://wordpress.org/support/users/robertolima/) * (@robertolima) * [5 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-auto-deleting-itself/) * Dear friends, * For a long time I have been using WP popular posts in my wordpress website and it always worked fine. Since the end of last month, after GoDaddy making a migration of the website for a new hosting platform, I noticed that the website was broken. I called GoDaddy and WPPS support team noticed that the plugin WP popular posts was missing. So they re-installed it and the site got back to its track. * The next day, the site was broken again and the plugin was missing too! They re-installed once more and after a while it was gone again. So they realized that the plugin was auto-deleting itself. * At first, they thought it could be a malware but they scanned everything and even created a staging website, removing all themes except the default WordPress theme and all plugins except WP Popular Posts, and the plugin was removed by itself from that website too. * So I got this message from the support, who assured me that the issue had nothing to do with the migration for the new hosting platform: * _“This is the first time that we experienced this, and only this plugin is causing issues even on the empty website. This is definitely an issue with the latest version of the plugin if this was not happening before.”_ * _“My advice is to reach out to plugin developers and tell them that we isolated the plugin in the staging website, and it still got deleted.”_ * So that is the reason why I am here looking for help. * Can you help me, please? I hope you can! * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fplugin-auto-deleting-itself%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US) to see the link]_ Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total) * Plugin Author [Hector Cabrera](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hcabrera/) * (@hcabrera) * [5 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-auto-deleting-itself/#post-18754407) * Hi [@robertolima](https://wordpress.org/support/users/robertolima/), * The plugin doesn’t have the ability to delete itself (if you’d like to confirm this by yourself you can find the plugin’s source code [here](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wordpress-popular-posts/)). Something else on your end is doing this (malware? GoDaddy?) * Since the GoDaddy team claims that it’s not them then either there’s some malware on your server that’s messing with your site or someone with access to your server is. * Things I’d do if I was in your position (in no particular order): - Double check that there’s no malware on your site. - Check that your WordPress setup is using [safe file/folder permissions](https://developer.wordpress.org/advanced-administration/server/file-permissions/#permission-scheme-for-wordpress) to prevent unauthorized file/folder changes. - Review all credentials (WP, cPanel, etc.) and make sure that they’re not being misused by someone outside of your organization. - Make sure that you downloaded the WP Popular Posts plugin from either [its wordpress.org page](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-popular-posts/) or [its Github repository](https://github.com/cabrerahector/wordpress-popular-posts/). * If you have any other comments / questions please leave a comment below. * Thread Starter [robertolima](https://wordpress.org/support/users/robertolima/) * (@robertolima) * [5 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-auto-deleting-itself/#post-18754936) * Thanks Hector! * As this issue started right after the website migration made by GoDaddy, it looks more likely there is something related to it, but GoDaddy’s support keeps saying it doesn’t. * So I got stuck with this situation. From time to time, I have to reinstall the plugin. * Do you thing the fact that my website is still using PHP (7.4.33.11) may be the problem? WP is recommending to upgrade to the latest version o PHP, but I am afraid to do that with the site still going under this situation. Should I upgrade anyway? * Plugin Author [Hector Cabrera](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hcabrera/) * (@hcabrera) * [5 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-auto-deleting-itself/#post-18754949) * No, I don’t think that the PHP version you’re using has any relation with this issue. You can update to a newer version if you want or just keep using 7.4 if you don’t have any other reason to upgrade other than WordPress recommending to do so. * I tried scanning your site using Sucuri’s online malware scan tool and the scanner is reporting a **500 Internal Server** error (see [https://sitecheck.sucuri.net/results/dermatologia.net](https://sitecheck.sucuri.net/results/dermatologia.net)) so there’s definitely something wrong with your site. I highly recommend reaching out to the people who maintain / built your website (or consider hiring an experienced web developer) and have them help you debug your site. * [[ * [alexsv1](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexsv1/) * (@alexsv1) * [4 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-auto-deleting-itself/#post-18799352) * Hi Hector, * I hope you’re doing well. I’m reaching out because I’m having issues with the WP Popular Posts plugin, which I’ve been using for years. I recently migrated my site with GoDaddy, and it seems that their automatic security and optimization checks every 24–48 hours are uninstalling and removing the plugin. * Since I already have the shortcode configured in a widget, it’s just a matter of reinstalling and reactivating the plugin. However, a day or two later GoDaddy removes it again, likely because it’s not recognized as secure (I assume due to the lack of updates). * Do you know if there’s any solution within WP Popular Posts to prevent GoDaddy’s security scans from disabling it? I really love this plugin and rely on it heavily, so losing it would be a big setback. * Thank you very much for your time and help. * Best regards, Alex (Sorry for writing my message here, but it seems the option to open a new topic is disabled.) * Plugin Author [Hector Cabrera](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hcabrera/) * (@hcabrera) * [4 months, 1 week ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-auto-deleting-itself/#post-18799922) * Hey [@alexsv1](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alexsv1/), * > However, a day or two later GoDaddy removes it again, likely because it’s not > recognized as secure (I assume due to the lack of updates). * Lack of updates may be one of the conditions for GoDaddy to remove a plugin automatically but in WPP’s case I believe it’s most likely because it’s a resource intensive plugin which when not using the right setup it can have an impact on performance( see [Performance](https://github.com/cabrerahector/wordpress-popular-posts/wiki/7.-Performance) if you’re interested in learning more.) * > Do you know if there’s any solution within WP Popular Posts to prevent GoDaddy’s > security scans from disabling it? I really love this plugin and rely on it > heavily, so losing it would be a big setback. * My advice here would be to reach out to GoDaddy’s support team and ask them what can be done to prevent this from happening. Maybe they’re doing this automatic plugin removal thing for specific hosting plans only? If so then switching to a hosting plan that allows you to manage your site however you like may be the best bet. Otherwise, if they’re in fact automatically removing specific plugins from all sites regardless of their hosting plan then I would consider switching to a different hosting provider. * > Sorry for writing my message here, but it seems the option to open a new topic > is disabled. * That’s strange. I can see the New Topic form just fine? * [[ - This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by [Hector Cabrera](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hcabrera/). Reason: Added reply to comment about new topic for being disabled * [kweenbee123](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kweenbee123/) * (@kweenbee123) * [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-auto-deleting-itself/#post-18825050) * I too am having this same issue. Had a GoDaddy migration and the plugin in self- deleting. It works fine once I reinstall the plugin. The plugin had an update 15 minutes ago and it disappeared again. Reinstalled and it’s back and working fine. * Plugin Author [Hector Cabrera](https://wordpress.org/support/users/hcabrera/) * (@hcabrera) * [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-auto-deleting-itself/#post-18825070) * Thanks for the report, [@kweenbee123](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kweenbee123/) * I guess that this confirms that GoDaddy _is_ deleting the plugin automatically for some reason (even though it’s not on [GoDaddy’s banned plugins list](https://www.godaddy.com/help/blocklisted-plugins-8964)). * As stated above, please reach out to GoDaddy’s support team and report the issue. * Thread Starter [robertolima](https://wordpress.org/support/users/robertolima/) * (@robertolima) * [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-auto-deleting-itself/#post-18825208) * Hello. * I have contacted GoDaddy and their solution was: “Change this plugin to another one”. Just that. * So I moved my site to another host where it is working fine so far. * GoDaddy don’t care. And they did not refund me for the months I already have payed for, although they have migrated my site without asking me if I wanted. I had no choice. Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total) You must be [logged in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fplugin-auto-deleting-itself%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US) to reply to this topic. * ![](https://ps.w.org/wordpress-popular-posts/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=1232659) * [WP Popular Posts](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-popular-posts/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-popular-posts/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-popular-posts/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-popular-posts/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-popular-posts/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-popular-posts/reviews/) * 8 replies * 4 participants * Last reply from: [robertolima](https://wordpress.org/support/users/robertolima/) * Last activity: [3 months, 2 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-auto-deleting-itself/#post-18825208) * Status: resolved