While I usually activate all the plugins for a site in one step (RapidFormatter does this for you automatically), whenever I am testing out a significant WordPress upgrade, I prefer to activate the plugins one by one.

I tend to use the following plugins on my various sites:

• RNW AdManager
• Advanced Admin Menus
• Contact Form ][
• Dagon Design Sitemap Generator
• Enlarger
• Global Translator
• Google XML Sitemaps
• Kimili Flash Embed
• MyBlogLog Widget
• Niche Feed
• Organizer
• Paged Navigation
• Post-Plugin Library
• RNW Breadcrumbs
• RNW Common Routines
• RNW DropCap
• RNW Order Sections
• RNW Page Manager
• RNW Recent Categories
• RNW SEO Optimiser
• RNW Sidebar Widgets
• RNW Zone Manager
• RNW_Redirect
• Role Manager
• Search Hilite
• Similar Posts
• WordPress Database Backup
• WP-Lytebox

A fairly lengty list - and were I to simply activate all the plugins, I would probably get a broken site - with no knowledge of which plugin caused the problem.

RapidFormatter - a key component of the Rapid Niche Websites System - uploads and activates most of these for me whenever I create a site, but sadly with such a major upgrade, I’m going to have to revert back to manual/ individual activation and testing …

So - whenever there is a significant WordPress upgrade, the smart move is to test each plugin - one by one.

The steps I follow:

• Activate the plugin. If I get a message that the plugin was activate, then I test the options page, and then finally the expected functionality of the plugin.
• If the plugin fails to activate, I check the error message provided, and then check back at the plugin’s home page to see if others have reported this probem, and whether there is a solution.
• If the plugin totally disables the site - so that I cannot access the Admin | Plugins page ( this does happen on occasion), then I use my FTP program to disabl, or completely remove the plugin. To disable the plugin, I usually just rename the file extension - from PHP to something else - it can be a simple as PHP1 - which will then restore the functionality of the site.

Over the next few posts I will check each of the plugins listed above - and if necessary, source an updated plugin, or tweak the code of any RNW plugin.