Wordfence definitely IS for “the casual user with a normal, everyday WordPress site”. Hackers and defacers go after any WordPress site, regardless of how insignificant it is.
I’ve installed it on over a dozen sites and had zero trouble with any installation.
When you say “not topical” I assume you mean “no longer relevant”. My review was based on the version of the plugin that was available in January 2014. If you’ve revised the plugin since then, I hope other users will take that into account.
You could try using “the_excerpt_reloaded”. It’s a plugin that allows parameters.
guff.szub.net/2005/02/26/the_excerpt-reloaded
