We have a fair number of readers who use WordPress and I thought it would be worthwhile to share a few tips on modifying plugins that are already in use. The reason this is somewhat pertinent at the current time is due to interruption earlier today. Had I followed the steps I’m going to describe, I would not have had to make that post 
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- The first thing to do is disable the plugin in your template. To do this you look under Presentation->Theme Editor in the admin panel. The list of links on the right hand side of the page is the list of files included in the site. If the plugin adds something to your sidebar, then the file you need to edit is likely your Sidebar Template. The call to the plugin will be found between a <?php tag and a ?> tag. For example, <?php get_most_commented(); ?> produces the most commented info. If you change it to look like this: <?php /* get_most_commented(); */ ?>, then the plugin will not get called (and whatever changes you make through steps 2 to 4 will not affect what visitors to your site will see).
- Next, deactivate the plugin through the admin panel: Plugins->Plugins.
- Make your planned changes to the plugin and save your changes. I was upgrading a plugin to a more recent version.
- Activate the plugin. If the admin panel gives error messages when it does this, go back to step #2.
- Remove the /* and */ from your template and save.
- Use the View Site link to verify that the plugin is working ok. If it is not then go back to step #1.
Starting at step #3 doesn’t always work out the way you had hoped 
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